H 


PIONEER  PRIESTS 

OF 

NORTH    AMERICA 

1642-1710 

BY  THE     /   i 

Rev.  T.  J.  Campbell,  S.J. 


VOL.  II 

AMONG  THE  HURONS 


THE  AMERICA  PRESS 

NEW  YORK 

1910 


BOSTOK  •OLLWB  UBRakt 


12787S 


Copyright,  1910 

BY 

The  America  Press 


nmi  Qbstat 

REMIGIUS  LAFORT,  S.T.L., 

Censor  Deputatus 

Imprimatur 

JOHN  M.  FARLEY,  D.D., 

Archbishop  of  New  York. 

March  8,  1910 


S         f  .    lONTENTS 

C 

S"  u  


I-I 


a; 


i-iv 

_  [ARD. 

g  S                                                                                                                            PAGE 

o  Tj  in  of  Name  of  New  France — 

f"*  S  adia's    Situation    and    Estab- 

^  '-'  rst    Missionaries — De    Mont's 

"c  "  > — Inhabitants,   Customs,    Re- 

2  3  IV  and   the  Jesuits — Joshua 

O  •—  jise  de  Guercheville — Arrival 

3  "w                                           at  Grand   Menan — Attempts 

^H  G                                   .he   Sagamo   Membertou — Ex- 

^  g  enobscot — Mass  in  Maine...  3-26 

T-T  ^  \.cadia  by  Mme.  de  Guerche- 

^  .g  suits  Leave  the  Mission — Es- 

^  s"  at  Bar  Harbor — Mistakes  of 

•^  g  -gall — Dispersion  of  Colonists 

«+-<  irginia  to  be  Hanged — Burn- 

§  (j^"  )ix  and  Port  Royal — Mission- 

1-1  c<8  the  Azores,  Liberated  by  the 

^  JJ  s — Return  to  France 27-46 

cuo  c 

£  ''^^                                      MASSE 

l_  :;  _     g5  id  Monument — Masse's  Birth- 

^  ,d  In  the  Court  of  Henry  IV — 

^  S      txo  ival  at  Acadia — Winters  with 

<;  r^     jl^  Harbor — At  Sea  in  an  Open 

p^  second  Journey  to  America — 


Ph  turn  to  France — Rector  of  La 

W  imerica — Builds  the  College  of 


49-61 


IREBEUF. 

;hplace — Studies — Ordination — 
llects  in  Canada — Jesuits  In- 
rica 65-76 

ix.     wi^    c..^    v^. ..»..«     from    Quebec — Helped   by   the 

Recollects — First  Residence — Refused  by  the  Hurons — 
Wintering  with  the  Algonquins — In  the  Huron  Canoes — 
Ottawa  Scenery — Arrives  at  Georgian  Bay — Pothier's 
Itinerary — Toanche — Alone  in  Huronia — Fall  of  Quebec 
— Returns   to    France 77-92 

III.  The  Second  Attempt — On  the  Ship  with  Champlain — Fail- 
ure to  Reach  Huronia — Labors  Among  the  Algonquins — 
Again  at  Georgian  Bay — Brule's  Grave — Ihonitiria. .. .  OS-fOl 

V 


Yiibll  (S^bdtat 

REMIGIUS  L^ 


fmpdmatur 

JOHN  M.  FA 
March  8,  1910 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Introuuction    i-iv 

PETER  BIARD. 
Chapter  page 

I.  Establishment  of  Acadia — Origin  of  Name  of  New  France — 

Geographical  Divisions — Acadia's  Situation  and  Estab- 
lishment— Its  Calvinism — First  Missionaries — De  Mont's 
Failure — Natural  Conditions — Inhabitants,  Customs,  Re- 
ligion— Potrincourt — Henry  IV  and  the  Jesuits — Joshua 
Flessche — Starvation — Marquise  de  Guercheville — Arrival 
of  Jesuits  in  Acadia — Mass  at  Grand  Menan — Attempts 
to  Learn  the  Language — The  Sagamo  Membertou — Ex- 
ploring the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot — Mass  in  Maine...  3-26 

n.  Mount  Desert — Purchase  of  Acadia  by  Mme.  de  Guerche- 
ville— Misuse  of  Funds — Jesuits  Leave  the  Mission — Es- 
tablishment of  St.  Sauveur  at  Bar  Harbor — Mistakes  of 
La  Saussaye — Arrival  of  Argall — Dispersion  of  Colonists 
— Missionaries  Taken  to  Virginia  to  be  Hanged — Burn- 
ing of  St.  Sauveur,  Ste.  Croix  and  Port  Royal— Mission- 
aries Driven  by  Storms  to  the  Azores,  Liberated  by  the 
English  at  Pembroke,  Wales — Return  to  France 27-46 

ENEMOND  MASSE 

Sillery — Masse's  Buildings  and  Monument — Masse's  Birth- 
place— Enters  the  Society — In  the  Court  of  Henry  IV — 
Austerity  of  His  Life — Arrival  at  Acadia — Winters  with 
the  Savages — Goes  to  Bar  Harbor — At  Sea  in  an  Open 
Boat — Return  to  France — Second  Journey  to  America — 
Fall  of  Quebec — Second  Return  to  France — Rector  of  La 
Fleche — Third  Voyage  to  America — Builds  the  College  of 
Quebec— Death     49-61 

JOHN  DE  BREBEUF. 

I.  Early  Life — Ancestors — Birthplace — Studies — Ordination — 
Troubles  at  Rouen — Recollects  in  Canada — Jesuits  In- 
vited— Departure    for   America 65-76 

II.  Up    the    Ottawa — Debarred    from    Quebec — Helped    by    the 

Recollects — First  Residence — Refused  by  the  Hurons — 
Wintering  with  the  Algonquins — In  the  Huron  Canoes — 
Ottawa  Scenery — Arrives  at  Georgian  Bay — Pothier's 
Itinerary — Toanche — Alone  in  Huronia — Fall  of  Quebec 
— Returns   to    France 77-92 

III.  The  Second  Attempt — On  the  Ship  with  Champlain — Fail- 
ure to  Reach  Huroaia — Labors  Among  the  Algonquins — 
Again  at  Georgian  Bay — Briile's  Grave — Ihonitiria. . . .  93-101 

V 


TABLE  OF.  CONTENTS. 

Chapter.  page. 

IV.  Controlling  the  Indians — Mirrors,  Microscopes,  Magnets — 
Fortifying  the  Village — Advice  to  Missionaries — Chief 
One  Eye — The  Nez  Perces — Francis  Marguerie 102-110 

V.  Storms — Arrival  of  Jogues — The  Pestilence — Threats  of 
Murder — Peter  the  Huron — New  Perils — In  the  Indian 
Council — The  Letter  of  Death — Peter  the  Iroquois — Fight 
for  Life — Tranquillity    111-124 

VI.  Huron  Characteristics  —  Language — Religion — Sacrifices — 
Immortality  of  the  Soul — Festivals — Devil  Worship — 
Medicine — Civil  Polity — Defense  in  War — Councils — 
Care  of  the  Dead — Decennial   Interment 125-138 

VII.  Among  the  Neutrals — The  Neutral  Country — Customs — 
Expelled — Success — Popular  Uprising — Niagara — Invad- 
ing a  Wigwam — Threats  of  Death — Expulsion — Along 
Lake  Erie — The  Kindly  Squaw — Writing  a  Grammar — 
Abandon  the  Enterprise — Teondechoren — Painful  Acci- 
dent— Visions — Itinerary — Return  to   St.   Mary's 139-151 

VIII.  Down  at  Quebec — Escape  from  the  Iroquois — Weird 
Stories — Character  of  de  Brebeuf — His  Terrible  Vow — 
Visit  to  the  Hotel  Dieu— Jogues— Death  of  Nicolet.  .   152-164 

IX.  The  Tragedy — Return  to  Huronia — Visits  Muskoka — Last 
Struggles  of  the  Hurons — Iroquois  Raids — Abandons  St. 
Ignatius  I — Captured  at  St.  Louis — Brought  Back  to  St. 
Ignatius     II— Torture— Death 165-172 

GABRIEL  LALEMANT. 

Torture  and  Death — His  Vow — Indian  Battle — Finding  the 
Remains — The  Burial — Official  Inquiry  as  to  Sanctity  and 
Martyrdom     175-183 

ANNE  DE  NOUE. 

The  Huguenot  de  la  None — The  Page  at  Court — Birthplace 
— Novitiate — In  Huronia — Return  to  Quebec — Recall  to 
France — Second  Journey  to  America — Sufferings  at  Sea 
— Among  the  Algonquins — Death  in  the  Snow — Finding 
the  Body— Funeral  at  Three  Rivers 187-193 

ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

I.  Cape  Breton — Stewart's  Fort — Captain  Daniel — Vimont — 
Shipwreck  of  Noyrot — Arrival  of  Vieuxpont — Abandon- 
ment of  Cape  Breton — Return  of  Captain  Daniel  with 
Father  Daniel — Description  of  the  Island — Daniel  sent  to 
Quebec — Huronia — Hardships  of  the  Journey — Visits  the 
Algonquins — Louis  de  Saincte  Foy  —  Indian  Choirs — 
Education  of  Huron  Boys — Takes  Three  to  Quebec — De- 
tained at  Isle  des  Allumettes — Arrival  at  Three  Rivers — 
Establishing  the  Huron  School — Capture  of  a  Pupil  by 
the  koquois — Battle  at  Three  Rivers 197-215 

vi 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Chapter.  page. 

II.  Armand  the  Huron — Rumors  of  Massacre — Daniel  and 
Armand  as  Scouts — Armand's  Escape  from  Death- 
Daniel's  Danger — Armand  Among  His  People — Exploits 
in  War — On  the  Lake — Captured  by  the  Iroquois — 
Jogues'  Defender  —  Fights  at  Three  Rivers  —  Indian 
Treachery — Reappearance  of  Armand — Arrival  of  Bres- 
sani — Armand  at  Isle  d'Orleans — His  Piety — His  Death — 
Devotion  of  His  Wife — Jogues'  Defender  Goes  to 
France     216-231 

III.  The  Last  Days — At  Ossossane  and  St.  Joseph's — Mem- 
ories of  Champlain — Threats  of  Death — Indian  Sorcerers 
— Chaumonot — Le  Moyne — Old  Indian  Pupils — Etiennc 
Totiri  —  Ahitsasteari  the  Warrior  —  Capture  of  the 
Squaws — Trick  of  the  Iroquois — Murder  of  the  Outposts 
—Retaliation— St.  Joseph's  Attacked— Daniel's  Death  232-244 

CHARLES  LALEMANT. 

I.  Early  Career  —  Birthplace  —  Studies — Teaching — Nevers — 
Clermont — Rector — Asks  for  the  Missions — Recollects — 
Sets  Out  with  de  Brebeuf — N.  D.  des  Anges — Grant  of 
Land  at  Beaupre — Letter  to  His  Brother — Character  of 
the  Natives — Difficulties  with  the  Traders — Departs  for 
France— Fall    of    Quebec 247-257 

II.  Third  Voyage — Prisoner  in  England — Shipwrecked  at  Canso 
— Second  Shipwreck  at  San  Sebastian — Rector  at  Eu — 
Fourth  Voyage  to  America — Dislike  of  the  Indians — Pas- 
tor at  Quebec — Piety  of  the  Colonists — At  the  Deathbed 
of   Champlain— Return   to   France 258-267 

III.  Procurator  of  the  Missions — Founding  Montreal — Dauver- 
siere — Maisonneuve — Jeanne  Mance — Jesuit  Pastors  of 
Montreal — First  Mass  on  the  Island — Vice-Provincial — 
Superior  of  the  Professed  House — Prince  de  Conti — Dis- 
liked by  the  Queen — Asked  for  as  Bishop  of  Quebec — 
His   Literary  Works— Death 268-276 

JEROME  LALEMANT. 

I.  First  Experience — Birthplace — Novitiate — Studies — Arrives 
at  Quebec — Adventures  on  the  Ottawa — Indian  Census — 
Map  of  the  Country — The  Donnes — Jean  Amiot — Rear- 
rangement of  Missions — St.  Mary's  on  the  Wye 279-288 

II.  Sketches  of  the  Hurons — The  Squaw's  Dream — A  Gambling 
Scene — Hardships  of  Converts — Difficulties  of  the  Gospel 
— Sorcerers — Excessive  Strictness  of  the  Missionaries  289-297 

III.  Superior  in  Quebec — Author  of  Huron  Grammar — Sends 
Jogues  to  the  Mohawk— The  Journal  des  Jesuites — End  of 
the  One  Hundred  Associates — Member  of  Royal  Council 
— Departure  of  Montmagny — Destruction  of  Huron  Mis- 
sions—  Temporary  Absence  —  Disasters — Recalled  to 
France— Rector  of  La  Fleche 298-310 

vii 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Chapter.  page. 

IV.  Vicar-General — Request  of  Laval — Returns  to  America — 
Public  Esteem — The  Right  to  Faculties — De  Queylus — 
Academic  Exercises — D'Argenson — The  Liquor  Question 
— D'Avaugour — The  Earthquake — De  Mesy — Retirement 
—Death      311-324 

CHARLES  GARNIER. 

L  Missionary  Longings — A  Modern  Romance — Martyr  Blood 
— Schoolboys — Novitiate — The  Wayward  Brother — Asks 
for  the  Missions — Paternal  Opposition — Flight  to  the 
Ship — The  Ocean  Voyage — Arrival  at  Quebec — Indian 
Baptism— Indian    Funeral 327-338 

II.  Among  the  Savages  —  Events  at  Three  Rivers  —  On  the 
River — Arrival  at  Ihonitiria — Letters  from  Ossossane — 
The  Beardless  Missionary — Indian  Choice  of  Pictures — 
Awaiting  Massacre — The  Noble  Redman 339-350 

III.  Chiwatenwa — Evangelizing  the  Petuns — Sufferings — Lost  in 
the  Snow — Wrath  of  the  Indians — Expulsion  from  Vil- 
lage— Saved  by  Chiwatenwa — Chiwatenwa's  Baptism — 
His  Natural  Virtues — His  Zeal  for  the  Faith — His  Resig- 
nation in  Affliction — Finding  Garnier — Appeals  to  the  Pe- 
tuns— Return  to  Huronia — His   Murder 351-359 

IV.  The  Crash — Second  Journey  to  the  Petuns — Failure — His 
Influence  Over  Savages — Third  Petun  Expedition — At 
Etharita — Starvation — Approach  of  the  Iroquois — The 
Village  Attacked — Garnier's  Death — Search  for  the  Body 
—Burial     360-364 

NOEL  CHABANEL. 

Arrival  at  Quebec — Goes  to  Huronia — Aversion  for  His 
Work — Depression — Vow  of  Perseverance — With  de  Bre- 
beuf — Replaced  by  Gabriel  Lalemant — Helping  Garnier — 
Recalled  to  Christian  Island — Murdered  in  the  Wilder- 
ness        367-373 

LEONARD  GARREAU 

The  Burning  Village — Burial  of  Father  Garnier — Waiting 
for  Death — Alone  at  Ekarrenioiidi — Withdrawal  of  Gar- 
reau  to  St.  Joseph's — His  Family — Childhood — Studies — 
Leaves  France — Letter  to  His  Brother — Among  the  Al- 
gonquins — Facing  Death  on  Lake  Nippissing— At  the 
Point  of  Death  in  St.  Mary's— With  Garnier  Among  the 
Petuns— Returns  to  Quebec— Perils  on  the  Way— Arrival 
of  the  Ottawas — Starts  for  the  West — Pursued  by  the  Iro- 
quois— Shot  Near  Montreal — Three  Days'  Agony — Car- 
ried to  the  Settlement — Expires — Ragueneau's  Letter — 
Exalted  Holiness  of  Garreau— Burial— Place  of  the  Battle 
— Garreau  in  the  Petits  Bollandistes 377-403 

Epilogue 404-405 

viii 


AUTHORITIES 

"The  Jesuit  Relations,"  Cleveland,  1896-iSOl. 

Rochemonteix — "  Les  Jesuites  et  la  Nouvelle  France,"  Paris,  1896. 

"  Documentary  History  of  the  State  of   New  York,"  Albany,   1849- 
1851. 

Morgan — "  The  League  of  the    Iroquois,"  New  York,  1904. 

Shea — "  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  Vol.  I, 
Colonial  Days,"  New  York,  1888. 

Parkman — "  The  Jesuits  in  North  America,"  Boston,  1880. 

Prat — "  Recherches  Historiques,"  Lyons,  1876. 

Dionne — "  Champlain,"  Quebec,  1906. 

Sagard — "  Histoire  du  Canada,"  Paris,  1636. 

Casgrain — "  Jean  Nicolet." 

Charlevoix — "Histoire    de    la    Nouvelle    France"    (Shea's   transl."). 
New  York,  1871. 

Bancroft—"  History  of  United  States,"  Boston,  1853. 

Garneau — "  Histoire  du  Canada,"  Quebec,  1845. 

Faillon — "  Histoire  de   la   Colonic  Frangaise   en   Canada,"    Montreal, 
1865. 

Richard— "  Acadia,"  Montreal,  1895. 

Ferland — "  Cours  d'histoire  du  Canada,"  Quebec,  1S61. 

Chapuis— "  Jean  Tallon,"  Quebec,  1904. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

All  the  Martyrs Frontispiece 

Acadia  (Old  Map) Facing  page  3 

On  the  Shores  of  Mount  Desert "  "  27 

Champlain  Monument,  Mount  Desert "  "  30 

Church  of  the  Holy  Redeemer,  Bar  Harbor "  "  32 

Bar   Harbor "  "  35 

Masse   Monument,   Sillery "  "  51 

Huronia    (Map) "  "  65 

The    Chaudiere "  "  80 

The    Rideau "  "  84 

An  Indian   Chief "  "  122 

Hurons  of  Lorette  (1838) "  "  131 

Niagara   River "  "  139 

Where  Nicolet   Died "  "  163 

Martyrdom   of   Brebeuf  and   Lalemant "  "  175 

Death  of  Father  de  Noiie "  "  192 

Cartier  Monument,  Quebec "  "  256 

Champlain   Monument,    Quebec "  "  266 

Dauversiere  "  "  268 

Maisonneuve "  "  272 

Lac  des  Allumettes "  "  280 

First  Mass  in  Montreal "  "  3©7 

Where  Garreau  Was  Buried "  "  392 

Montreal   Island    (Map) "  "  40© 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  first  volume  of  "  The  Pioneer  Priests  of  North 
America "  contains  the  biographies  of  the  eighteen 
priests  who  labored  among  the  Iroquois  Indians  in  what  is 
now  the  State  of  New  York.  The  present  one  concerns 
itself  with  the  lives  of  the  chief  apostles  of  the  Hurons. 
The  period  of  time  covered  in  this  narrative  is  more 
restricted  than  the  other,  but  is  more  tragic  in  its  character, 
and  is  filled  from  beginning  to  end  with  deeds  of  more  than 
usually  heroic  self-immolation.  It  is  the  history  of  de 
Brebeuf  and  his  associates. 

A  year  after  Champlain  had  built  his  huts  at  Quebec, 
namely  in  1609,  a  tribe  from  what  was  then  the  far  North- 
west, came  down  the  river  with  their  peltries.  They  were 
Wendots  or  Wyandots,  but  the  French  called  them  Hurons, 
because  of  the  irregular  tufts  of  hair  which  the  savages 
cultivated  on  their  half-shaven  heads.  To  the  imaginative 
Frenchman  the  decoration  seemed  like  la  hure  or  bristles  on 
the  back  of  an  angry  boar.  '"  Quelle  hure! "  they  ex- 
claimed ;  "  What  a  shock  of  bristles !  "  From  that  the  name 
Huron  was  evolved.  The  derivation  seems  fanciful,  but 
is  commonly  admitted  to  be  correct.  The  Dutch  historian, 
Vandendonck,  however,  classified  these  new  arrivals  as  The 
French  Savages  or  Rondaxes ;  but  Rondaxes  is  merely  a 
corruption  of  Adirondacks ;  the  only  Indians  ever  called  the 
French  Savages.  Golden,  for  no  reason  that  he  assigns, 
designates  them  as  Quantoghies ;  while  Lahontan,  who  is 
famous  for  his  misstatements,  describes  them  as  Nadoueks, 
which  is  the  Algonquin  name  for  Iroquois. 

These  Wyandots  or  Hurons  were,  like  the  other  savage 
nations,  divided  into  various  clans  or  families,  such  as  The 
Bears,  The  Rocks,  The  Cords,  etc.  They  were  the  parent 
slock  of  the  five  Iroquois  Nations,  and  were  relatives  of  the 

xiii 


INTRODUCTION. 

Petuns  and  Neutrals,  who  were  their  immediate  neighbors 
near  Lake  Huron.  They  were  also  connected  by  blood  with 
the  Andastes  or  Susquehannas  of  Pennsylvania.  Their 
country  was  800  or  900  miles  away  from  Quebec,  near  the 
great  lake  which  now  bears  their  name,  but  which  they 
called  Attigouantan.  Roughly  speaking,  it  was  the  terri- 
tory at  the  head  of  Georgian  Bay,  with  Lake  Simcoe  on  the 
east,  the  Severn  River  and  Matchedash  Bay  on  the  north, 
Nottawasaga  Bay  on  the  west,  and  was  separated  from  the 
Neutrals  on  the  south  by  what  w^ould  be  a  line  drawn  from 
the  present  town  of  Collingwood  over  to  Hawkstone  on 
Lake  Simcoe.  The  train  from  Toronto  north  to  Midland 
and  Penetanguishene  runs  through  the  old  habitat  of  the 
Hurons. 

The  most  reliable  information  we  have  about  these  In- 
dians is  to  be  found  in  the  "  Relations  "  of  the  missionaries, 
notably  those  of  de  Brebeuf,  Jerome  Lalemant  and  Bressani. 
The  Recollects  who  first  visited  them  remained  only  a  short 
time,  and  it  is  difficult  to  accept  Friar  Sagard's  account 
without  reserve,  as  he  could  not  possibly  have  known  their 
language.  Champlain  passed  a  winter  among  them  after 
his  defeat  in  Western  New  York,  and  has  left  us  a  record 
of  what  he  saw.  They  were  selected  as  the  most  likely  to 
be  influenced  by  the  teaching  of  the  Gospel,  because  of  their 
remoteness  from  the  whites,  and  because  also  like  their 
kinsmen,  the  Iroquois,  though  continually  at  war,  they  were 
settled  in  well  protected  villages. 

Champlain  first  asked  the  Jesuits  to  undertake  the  work 
of  their  conversion,  but  as  the  troubles  in  Acadia  were  about 
at  their  height,  it  was  deemed  unwise  to  enter  upon  an 
additional  struggle  with  the  Calvinist  merchants  who  then 
controlled  Quebec.  In  consequence  of  this  refusal,  the 
Recollects  were  invited,  and  in  1615,  Father  Le  Caron  was 
at  Carhouaga,  near  Thunder  Bay,  but  in  1616  he  returned 
to  France  and  did  not  resume  his  work  among  the  Hurons 
until  1623,  when  he  again  took  up  his  abode  there  with 

xiv 


INTRODUCTION. 

Father  Viel  and  the  lay-brother  Sagard.  In  the  following 
year,  he  and  Sagard  withdrew,  and  Viel  was  left  alone. 

Despairing  of  success  with  either  red  or  white  men, 
on  account  of  the  opposition  of  the  French  traders,  the 
Recollects  entreated  the  Jesuits  to  come  to  their  aid.  This 
time  the  invitation  was  accepted,  and  Fathers  de  Brebeuf 
and  de  Noiie  immediately  left  France  with  the  Recollect 
d'Aillon,  and  after  much  difficulty  reached  the  Huron  coun- 
try in  1625 ;  but  d'Aillon  and  de  Noiie  soon  withdrew, 
leaving  de  Brebeuf  alone.  The  Recollect  Viel  had  before 
that,  attempted  to  go  down  to  Quebec  but  lost  his  life  on 
the  Riviere  des  Prairies,  at  a  place  known  as  Sault  au  Recol- 
let.  Finally,  in  1629,  de  Brebeuf  was  compelled  to  give 
up  the  work,  as  the  English  were  then  in  possession  of 
Quebec. 

Canada  again  became  French  territory  in  1632;  and  in 
1634,  de  Brebeuf,  Davost  and  Daniel  forced  themselves  on 
the  unwilling  savages  who  had  again  come  down  to  Quebec 
to  trade,  and  after  much  suffering  reached  the  Huron 
country.  They  were  joined  by  Le  Mercier  and  Pierre 
Pijart  in  1635,  and  in  the  following  year,  by  Jogues,  Garnier 
and  Chastellain.  Paul  Ragueneau  arrived  in  1637;  and 
Le  Moyne  and  du  Perron  in  1638.  Jerome  Lalemant,  Chau- 
monot,  Poncet  and  Claude  Pijart  were  on  the  list  in  1639 ; 
and  Menard  in  1640.  We  find  Garreau,  Chabanel  and 
Bressani  there  in  1641,  and  in  1648,  Gabriel  Lalemant, 
Bonin  and  Daran  arrived  just  in  time  for  the  closing  scenes 
of  the  tragedy  in  which  Lalemant  was  a  conspicuous  victim. 

They  were  all  wonderful  men  and  necessarily  so ;  for  they 
had  to  convert  an  entire  people  who  were  at  that  very 
moment  being  rapidly  exterminated  by  an  implacable  foe. 
The  time  allotted  by  Divine  Providence  for  this  work  was 
exceedingly  brief,  for  counting  out  the  few  years  which 
de  Brebeuf  spent  in  Huronia  prior  to  the  fall  of  Quebec  in 
1629,  it  began  only  in  1634,  but  it  was  not  until  1639  that 
the  savages  would  even  tolerate  an  allusion  to  Christianity, 

XV 


INTRODUCTION. 

and  before  the  end  of  1650  the  Hurons  had  vanished  from 
the  earth  as  a  distinct  people.  Nevertheless,  in  those  ten 
years,  results  were  achieved  which  have  scarcely  a  parallel 
in  missionary  annals.  Thousands  of  these  Hurons  became 
excellent  Christians,  and  not  a  few  were  distinguished  by 
lives  of  exalted  virtue.  It  is  true  that  it  was  at  the  cost 
of  awful  sufferings  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  lives  of  many  of 
the  missionaries,  but  de  Brebeuf  and  his  companions  brought 
a  holy  and  pertinacious  fierceness  into  the  fight  and  made 
light  of  death  if  they  won  even  a  few  souls.  After  the 
destruction  of  the  Hurons  some  of  the  missionaries  went 
down  among  the  Iroquois.  Chaumonot,  Le  Moyne, 
Ragueneau,  Poncet  and  Bressani  labored  both  in  Canada 
and  in  New  York;  and  Jogues  himself  first  began  with  the 
Hurons.     Their  stories  have  been  told  in  the  first  volume. 

We  have  prefixed  to  the  present  work  an  account  of  the 
early  Acadian  mission ;  for  the  reason  that  it  was  the  first 
effort  made  in  the  evangelization  of  New  France,  and  also 
because  Father  Masse,  who  had  been  in  Acadia,  kept  alive 
the  enthusiasm  for  the  Canadian  missions  when  he  returned 
to  France,  and  was  the  first  to  volunteer  when  the  Recollects 
appealed  for  help.  He  was  for  a  time  superior  of  the  only 
missionary  who  was  left  among  the  Hurons,  and  he  hastened 
back  to  America  when  the  French  resumed  control  of 
the  country.  Biard,  his  companion  in  Acadia,  would  doubt- 
less have  gone  with  him  had  he  not  been  summoned  to  his 
reward  four  years  before  the  Jesuits  undertook  the  work. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  say  that  daily  access  to  the 
valuable  archives  of  St.  Mary's  College,  Montreal,  and  the 
counsel  of  the  Rev.  Arthur  E.  Jones,  who  is  among  the 
foremost  authorities  in  all  matters  relating  to  Huronia,  have 
made  the  preparation  of  this  volum.e  a  comparatively  easy 
task. 


XVI 


PETER  BIARD 


CHAPTER  I. 
Establishment  of  Acadia. 

THE  *'  Jesuit  Relations,"  as  we  now  have  them, 
are  merely  the  summaries  or  digests  of  the  various 
letters  sent  by  the  missionaries  to  their  superior  at  Quebec, 
who  forwarded  them  to  Paris  where  they  were  published 
annually  in  forty  consecutive  volumes  from  1632  to  1672. 
As  they  appear  in  their  modern  re-prints  they  are  usually 
preceded  by  two  other  documents,  one  a  letter,  dated  1626, 
from  Charles  Lalemant  to  his  brother  Jerome,  and  another  a 
treatise  or  an  elaborate  account  of  the  work  done  in  Acadia 
sixteen  years  before  that  time.  The  latter  was  written  by 
Father  Biard,  and  is  an  answer  to  an  accusation  which  was 
then  current  in  France  that  the  Jesuits  were  traitors  to  their 
country  and  religion,  and  in  collusion  with  the  English 
pirates  who  destroyed  the  colonies  of  Port  Royal  and  St. 
Sauveur.  This  charge  was  formulated  in  a  book  known  as 
the  "  Facts  of  the  Case  between  M.  J.  de  Biencourt  and 
Fathers  Masse  and  Biard,"  and  was  supposed  to  have  been 
written  by  Lescarbot,  who  was  the  devoted  friend  of  the 
Biencourts  and  had  lived  a  short  time  in  Acadia. 

One  of  the  good  results  of  the  accusation  was  that  its 
refutation  has  supplied  us  with  very  valuable  ethnological 
and  historical  data  about  Acadia,  which  otherwise  might 
not  have  been  forthcoming;  and  has  given  us  a  story  of 
wanderings  by  sea  and  land  that  reads  like  an  Odyssey. 

Biard  begins  by  telling  us  why  the  name  of  New  France 
was  given  to  the  recently  acquired  territory.  The  first 
reason  is  because  there  was  no  land  between  it  and  the  old 
country ;  a  view,  more  patriotic  than  convincing.  The  second 
is  hardly  more  satisfactory,  namely  that  the  Bretons  and 
Normans  had  been  in  the  habit  of  visiting  those  parts  a 

3 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

hundred  years  or  more  for  fishing  purposes,  and  used  to 
bring  back  an  occasional  Indian  to  exhibit  him  in  St.  Malo 
and  elsewhere.  The  third  is  the  only  valid  one,  viz :  that 
Verazzano,  in  the  employ  of  Francis  I,  gave  the  name  to 
the  entire  territory  north  of  40°  latitude.  What  was  known 
as  Canada  "  was  only  part  of  the  acquisition,  and  was 
restricted  to  that  portion  of  it  which  lay  along  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Acadia,  or  the  land  of  the  Souriquois,  adjoined 
it  on  the  south ;  while  further  south  still,  beyond  the  Baie 
Frangaise  or  Bay  of  Fundy  w^as  Norumbega." 

After  the  expeditions  of  Roberval  and  the  Marquis  de  la 
Roche  had  failed,  Pierre  du  Cast,  the  Sieur  de  Monts,  having 
acquired  an  ample  fortune,  associated  with  himself  some 
merchants  of  Rouen,  St.  Malo  and  Rochelle,  and  received 
from  "  the  incomparable  Henry  IV,"  as  Biard  styles  him,  a 
grant  of  land  from  the  40°  to  4G°  north  latitude,  besides 
trading  privileges  as  far  as  the  54°.  Its  eastern  boundary 
was  the  Atlantic,  and  its  western  the  China  Sea  or  Pacific. 
De  Monts  left  France  in  1604,  coasted  along  the  shore  of 
Norumbega,  settled  for  a  while  on  Ste.  Croix  Island,  and 
finally  chose  for  the  central  seat  of  the  colony  the  Harbor 
of  Port  Royal,  or  what  is  now  Annapolis,  in  Nova  Scotia. 

Champlain,  who  was  with  the  expedition,  was  strongly 
opposed  to  the  entire  scheme ;  first,  because  the  place  was 
too  near  the  English  settlements  and  consequently  in  con- 
stant danger  of  attack ;  and  secondly,  because  the  settlers 
were  half  Calvinist  and  half  Catholic.  He  foresaw  the 
strife  that  would  ensue,  and  he  sadly  notes  in  his  "Voyages" 
that  the  parson  and  the  priest  on  board  of  his  vessel  not 
only  spent  their  time  in  religious  controversy,  but  came  to 
blows  on  the  deck  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  crew. 
Both  of  these  tempestuous  evangelists  died  shortly  after 
landing,  and  the  sailors  buried  them  side  by  side,  hoping  that 
there  at  least  they  might  be  at  peace.  The  chaplain  on 
Pontgrave's  ship  was  a  priest  from  Paris  named  Aubrey, 
who  succeeded   in  losing  himself  for  three  weeks   in  the 

4 


PETER   BIARD. 

woods,  where  he  nearly  perished.  Nothing  else  is  recorded 
of  him.  Two  years  of  misery  followed,  and  the  associ- 
ated merchants,  finding  that  they  were  getting  nothing  for 
their  money  but  maps  of  rivers  and  bays,  refused  any  further 
advances.  Du  Gast  therefore,  abandoned  the  enterprise, 
without  however,  relinquishing  his  charter.  He  made  over 
the  Seigneurie  of  Port  Royal  to  Jean  de  Biencourt,  com- 
monly known  as  Potrincourt  or  Poutrincourt,  and  retained 
the  rest  as  his  own. 

After  this  brief  historical  review,  Biard  then  addresses 
himself  to  what  he  calls  the  horoscope  ct  geniture  de  ces 
terrcs,  namely  the  astronomical  location,  the  temperature, 
the  seasons,  and  the  characteristics  of  the  people.  It  will 
not  be  necessary  to  follow  him  in  all  these  details  which 
are  very  discursive  and  often  speculative,  but  it  will  suffice 
for  our  present  purpose  to  select  a  few  of  the  traits  which 
differentiate  the  Micmac  or  Souriquois  Indians  from  the 
other  red  men  of  the  country. 

"  In  spite  of  the  scurvy  and  bitter  cold,"  he  says,  "  the 
place  is  healthy,  if  one  does  not  coop  himself  up  in  his 
cabin,  but  keeps  his  blood  in  circulation  by  hunting  and 
fishing.  There  is  nothing  to  be  feared  from  the  Indians, 
for  the  only  unfriendly  ones  are  those  north  of  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence."  He  called  them  Excommuniquois,  which 
is  about  the  nearest  he  could  come  to  their  name,  and  which 
he,  no  doubt,  thought  properly  described  them,  though  he 
blames  the  immorality  of  the  Basque  sailors  in  those  parts 
for  having  made  them  bad.  The  Montagnais,  the  Souri- 
quois, and  the  Etchemins  were  all  friendly.  The  Acadians 
or  Souriquois  he  found  to  be  a  light-hearted,  intelligent 
race,  with  a  good  memory  for  things  that  they  could  see 
and  touch,  but  absolutely  helpless  when  there  was  question 
of  keeping  any  formula  of  words  in  their  head.  They 
regarded  the  French  as  very  ugly,  chiefly  because  of  the  hair 
around  the  lips,  but  little  by  little  they  got  used  to  that 
ornament.     They  were  all  decently  clad  in  winter,  though 

5 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

in  summer  the  men's  wardrobe  was  reduced  to  a  breech- 
clout. 

They  were  smaller  than  the  French,  well  built,  "  pretty 
much,"  says  Biard,  "  as  we  should  have  been,  had  we  all 
remained  twenty-five  years  old."  There  are  no  fat  men 
among  them,  no  hunchbacks;  no  cripples  or  deformed  crea- 
tures ;  none  with  gout,  or  stone  or  the  like ;  no  lunatics ; 
none  with  a  single  eye  or  a  squint,  and  they  are  much  amused 
at  any  of  the  French  who  are  unfortunate  in  these  respects. 
On  the  whole  they  have  a  very  poor  idea  of  the  Europeans, 
and  consider  themselves  a  superior  race."  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, one  of  these  distinguished  sons  of  the  forest,  hearing 
that  the  King  of  France  was  looking  for  a  wife,  offered  his 
daughter,  but  on  condition  that  His  Majesty  should  give 
in  return  for  the  maiden  several  barrels  of  bread  and  beans, 
a  supply  of  hats,  harpoons  and  the  like. 

They  were  nomads  and  hunters,  and  divided  their  year 
of  thirteen  moons  into  the  periods  which  determined  their 
pursuit  of  the  different  kinds  of  game.  They  ate  what  they 
caught  and  then  starved  until  something  else  came  their 
way.  When  the  ice  broke  up  they  were  most  of  the  time  in 
their  light  canoes,  which  we  are  assured  would  make  thirty 
or  forty  leagues  a  day.  Rarely  living  together  in  any  great 
number,  there  w^as  no  system  of  laws  to  regulate  their  con- 
duct. Their  chiefs  were  called  Sagamos,  and  were  mostly 
heads  of  families,  who  guided  the  activities  of  their 
various  descendants.  Like  all  Indians  they  were  fond 
of  visiting  each  other,  chiefly  because  of  the  feasts,  which 
were  customary  on  such  occasions.  They  were  always  at  war, 
or  at  least  deliberating  about  it.  But  Charlevoix  says  that 
before  deciding  they  used  to  fight  with  their  wives.  If  the 
squaws  got  the  best  of  the  battle,  it  was  a  good  omen;  if 
the  men  prevailed,  it  was  the  reverse.  The  logic  of  such 
reasoning  is  not  apparent,  but  that  was  unimportant.  Their 
tactics  were  the  usual  trickery  and  stealthiness  of  the  savage, 
viz :  lying  in  ambush  or  creeping  up  on  their  foes.    In  Biard's 

6 


PETER   BIARD. 

opinion  they  were  miserable  cowards  in  a  regular  battle, 
while  in  their  personal  quarrels  two  men  would  fight  all 
day  without  much  damage  to  either  except  in  breath  and 
perspiration,  "  pulling  each  other's  hair,"  he  says,  "  like 
women  in  France." 

Their  marriages  were  generally  by  purchase,  and  the 
squaw  then  began  her  drudgery.  Polygamy  prevailed  and 
with  it  gross  immorality,  but  there  was  a  certain  amount  of 
external  decorum.  Indeed  they  were  better  behaved  in 
that  respect  than  the  French.  Adultery  was  punishable  by 
death,  but  loss  of  virtue  in  a  maid  did  not  affect  her  matri- 
monial availability,  though  it  was  a  blot  on  her  record. 
The  children  were  few,  the  suffering  and  misery  of  the 
squaws  affording  a  sufficient  explanation  of  that  condition 
of  things.  According  to  the  writer  the  Souriquois  did  not 
exceed  3,500,  the  Eteminquois,  who  were  in  the  Penobscot 
region,  were  no  more  than  2,500;  another  3,000  might  be 
found  from  there  to  the  Kennebec  and  Chouacouet,  while 
there  were  only  about  1,000  Montagnais  in  all.  In  brief 
only  about  10,000  aborigines  vv^ere  to  be  found  in  those  parts. 

They  had  no  handicraft  whatever,  and  were  intellectually 
dense.  Their  pharmacopoeia  was  reduced  to  sweat  baths, 
and  unctions  of  fish  oil ;  but  the  latter  we  are  told  was  a 
specific  against  mosquitoes,  and  also  helped  the  savage  to 
bear  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  Besides  it  made  their 
hair  slip  easily  through  the  tangled  brushwood,  and 
triumphantly  shed  the  rain.  They  used  tobacco  against 
hunger,  and  to  get  it  would  sell  their  shirts.  All  their  en- 
tertainments and  business  meetings  were  helped  out  by  pro- 
tracted use  of  the  pipe. 

Their  medical  practice  was  mostly  jugglery.  When  an  In- 
dian was  very  far  gone,  he  stretched  out  at  full  length  near 
the  fire,  and  then,  by  common  consent,  he  was  sick.  They 
offered  him  everything  they  were  eating,  whether  roast  or 
boiled,  and  usually  dragged  it  through  the  ashes  to  present 
it  to  him.     If  he  refused  it,  they  called  in  the  sorcerer. 

7 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

That  functionary  examined  the  patient  and  then  began  to 
blow  on  him.  If,  after  some  days,  this  pneumatic  treatment 
was  ineffective,  he  was  pronounced  to  have  the  devil  inside 
of  him,  and  the  spirit  had  to  be  driven  out  and  killed. 
Then  all  prepared  to  slay  Beelzebub,  but  were  warned  to  be 
on  their  guard  lest  he  might  jump  into  and  strangle 
them.  A  three  hours'  comedy  then  began  in  which  each  one 
had  his  part  to  play. 

The  juggler  established  himself  in  a  deep  hole,  at  the 
bottom  of  which  he  tied  a  rope  around  a  peg.  Singing, 
screaming  and  dancing  they  crowded  around  the  patient  who 
was  placed  close  to  the  hole,  the  physician  meantime  waving 
a  naked  sword  till  he  was  all  in  a  sweat  and  foaming  at  the 
mouth  like  a  hard  driven  horse,  and  howling  meantime  like 
a  demon  to  warn  the  people  to  look  out  for  the  evil  spirit. 
He  sees  him  in  the  pit  writhing  in  anger  and  ready  to 
spring  out  and  eat  them.  Every  one  is  pale  with  fear, 
until  at  least  the  braves  take  hold  of  the  cord  to  drag  Satan 
out.  They  pull  and  pull,  but  the  sorcerer  had  taken  good 
care  to  make  it  fast.  While  they  are  tugging  he  is  vocifera- 
ting over  the  hole  and  pretending  to  make  lunges  against 
the  evil  spirit.  Finally  he  descends  into  the  pit,  and  lo !  the 
rope  yields,  and  out  it  comes  with  bits  of  bones  and  shreds 
of  fish  attached  to  it.  "Victory!  the  devil  is  dead.  You 
will  cure  the  sick  man." 

Then  the  sufferer  is  examined  to  see  if  the  demon  has  hurt 
him  in  the  exit.  To  find  that  out  the  physician  must  sleep 
and  dream,  which  gives  the  patient  a  good  chance  to  get 
worse.  After  that  he  pronounces  the  verdict.  Possibly  he 
will  say:  "You  will  die  in  three  days."  Whereupon  the 
sick  man  proceeds  to  help  out  his  medical  adviser  by  refusing 
all  food.  If  at  the  end  of  three  days,  life  still  persists  in  the 
victim,  the  devil  is  accused  of  interfering,  and  consequently 
pots  of  cold  water  are  poured  on  the  patient's  stomach  till 
he  expires.  If  you  expostulate  they  will  tell  you  that  such 
is  their  national  method  of  medical  treatment.     Even  after 

8 


PETER   BIARD. 

all  this,  the  French  have  sometimes  succeeded  in  rescuing 
the  victims  and  restoring  them  to  health,  though  the  pious 
Biard  says  it  was  by  the  grace  of  God.  Among  those  who 
were  rescued  were  the  two  Sagamos,  Membertou  and  his 
son.  a  result  which  redounded  very  much  to  the  discredit 
of  the  native  doctors,  who,  however,  whether  they  succeeded 
or  not,  always  had  the  privilege  of  receiving  numerous 
presents  and  were  exempted  from  giving  anything  in  return. 
They  were  thus  a  favored  class  and  grew  unavoidably 
rich. 

Resuming  his  narrative,  Biard  tells  us  that  when  the  doom 
of  the  sick  man  was  pronounced,  all  his  friends  and  relations 
gathered  around  and  he  made  his  own  funeral  oration.  He 
related  his  exploits ;  extolled  his  family ;  gave  his  instruc- 
tions and  bade  everyone  farewell.  He  made  no  gifts  but 
called  for  a  general  smoke.  The  pipe  was  lighted  and  all 
gave  presents  to  their  departing  friend ;  arrows,  skins,  dogs, 
etc.  They  killed  the  dogs,  however,  and  made  a  funeral 
banquet  of  them.  When  the  feast  was  over  the  mourners 
began  their  harangues :  They  were  sorry  to  lose  him,  but 
he  was  leaving  good  sons  behind  who  would  grow  up  fine 
hunters,  and  he  was  bidding  good  bye  to  admiring  friends 
who  would  avenge  the  wrongs  done  to  him.  Finally, 
when  the  poor  wretch  breathed  his  last,  they  set  up  a  howl, 
and  if  he  was  a  man  of  importance  they  continued  at  it  night 
and  day  for  a  week,  provided  they  had  enough  to  eat.  If 
the  food  gave  out,  they  buried  the  body  straightway  and 
adjourned  the  banquet  to  another  occasion. 

For  the  funeral,  the  afflicted  relatives  painted  their  faces 
black,  but  occasionally  enlivened  the  gloom  of  their  aspect 
by  a  dash  of  color.  They  wrapped  the  corpse  in  skins, 
and  tied  up  the  knees  against  the  stomach.  The  grave 
was  shallow,  with  the  dead  man's  head  almost  on  a  level  with 
the  ground,  but  a  mound  was  made  above  it  by  means  of 
sticks.  If  the  defunct  was  a  chief  they  built  a  pyramid  over 
him.     Bows,  arrows  and  shields  marked  the  resting  place 

0 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

of  the  men;  spoons  or  some  feminine  adornments  indicated 
that  a  weary  squaw  had  ceased  from  her  labors.  In  the 
grave,  skins,  hatchets  and  sometimes  the  uneaten  dogs  were 
thrown.  Finally,  when  the  obsequies  were  over,  all  shunned 
the  place,  and  banished  every  remembrance  of  the  departed 
from  their  minds.  If  they  had  to  speak  of  him,  they  called 
him  by  another  name. 

"  Their  religion  is  nothing  but  sorcery,"  continues  Biard. 
"  They  offer  sacrifices  to  the  devil  for  good  luck  in  fighting 
or  hunting,  and  are  firm  believers  in  dreams.  The  magicians 
are  said  to  evoke  ghosts,  but  we  never  saw  any.  Diabolical 
possession  was  alleged  to  have  been  common  before  we 
came,  and  old  Membertou  averred  that  his  Satanic  Majesty 
often  appeared  to  him,  but,  as  something  wicked  was  always 
enjoined  in  such  interviews,  the  chief  grew  suspicious  and 
stopped  conjuring.  They  believed  in  God,  but  the  divinity 
as  far  as  could  be  made  out  v^as  the  Sun.  They  had  also 
a  confused  idea  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  of  the 
recompense  and  punishment  of  the  good  and  wicked.  But 
they  were  not  much  worried  about  the  next  world.  Only 
material  affairs  interested  them.  Unlike  many  North 
American  tribes  they  did  not  eat  human  flesh." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  Du  Gast  abandoned 
Acadia,  he  made  over  the  Seigneurie  of  Port  Royal  to  his 
friend  Potrincourt  who,  to  ensure  the  validity  of  the  trans- 
fer, applied  in  person  to  the  King  for  the  royal  sanction. 
The  easy-going  monarch  saw  no  reason  to  refuse  the  request, 
but  intimated  his  desire  to  have  the  evangelization  of  the 
natives  confided  to  Jesuit  missionaries.  As  the  grantee, 
however,  though  a  Catholic,  had  imbibed  many  Calvinist 
prejudices  from  his  business  friends,  he  regarded  Jesuits 
as  ogres,  and  the  royal  suggestion  made  him  uncomfortable. 
But  instead  of  bluntly  telling  the  king  his  difficulties  in  the 
matter,  he  determined  to  evade  the  command  as  best  he 
could.  He  began  by  dilatory  tactics,  and  long  after  he  was 
thought  to  have  set  out  for  America  he  again  appeared  in 

10 


PETER   BIARD. 

Court.  The  king  in  anger  ordered  him  to  depart  immedi- 
ately, but  in  spite  of  that  the  whole  winter  was  consumed 
in  preparations  for  the  voyage.  Evidently  Henry  IV  was 
not  a  despot. 

A  year  before  that,  Fathers  Biard  and  Masse  had  been 
ordered  to  repair  to  Bordeaux,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  set  sail 
for  America,  but  no  one  there  knew  of  any  vessel  about 
to  leave;  and  although  it  was  then  near  the  close  of  1608, 
there  had  been  no  intelligence  of  the  failure  of  de  Monts 
in  Acadia.  There  were  no  newspapers  in  those  days. 
Another  year  slipped  by,  and  not  till  winter  had  set  in  did 
Potrincourt  receive  his  second  order  from  the  king.  On 
that  occasion  Father  Coton,  who  was  the  royal  confessor, 
heard  the  command,  and  made  haste  to  ask  about  the  mis- 
sionaries, but  Potrincourt  put  him  off  with  the  assurance 
that  it  would  be  wise  to  wait  another  year,  and,  when  at 
the  end  of  February,  1610,  he  set  sail,  there  were  no  Jesuits 
on  board.  In  their  stead,  was  a  priest  with  the  extraor- 
dinary name  of  Joshua  Flessche  or  Flesse,  whose  theological 
knowledge  was  rather  of  the  Old  than  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Three  weeks  after  his  arrival  he  baptized  a  score  of 
Indians  whom  Potrincourt's  son,  evidently  at  his  father's 
suggestion,  had  instructed.  The  poor  savages,  however, 
knew  nothing  about  what  they  were  doing,  were  even 
unable  even  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  were  left 
undisturbed  in  their  former  habits  of  life.  Thus  one  of 
those  distinguished  neophytes  pointed  with  pride  to  the  eight 
wives  whom  his  curious  Christian  belief  did  not  prevent 
him  from  retaining.  Indeed,  the  prevalent  impression 
among  them  was  that  baptism  was  merely  an  initiation 
ceremony  which  made  them  Normans.  They  called  the 
Reverend  Joshua  "  Patriarch,"  and  adopted  the  name  for 
themselves ;  but  when  the  news  of  the  clergyman's  singular 
performance  reached  France,  his  title  did  not  prevent  him 
from  being  roundly  scored  by  the  Sorbonne  and  he  was 
recalled. 

11 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Notwithstanding  the  supphes  brought  by  Potrincourt,  the 
colony  soon  lapsed  into  its  condition  of  semi-starvation, 
and  it  was  thought  advisable  for  young  Biencourt  to  cross 
the  water.  He  left  Port  Royal  at  the  end  of  July,  1610, 
and  an  accident  occurred  at  his  departure  which,  because 
it  affected  Potrincourt,  nearly  brought  irreparable  disaster 
on  the  unfortunate  settlers.  It  is  not  referred  to  in  Biard's 
narrative,  but  we  find  an  account  of  it  in  a  private  letter 
written  to  the  Provincial  in  France. 

When  Biencourt  hoisted  sail  for  Europe,  his  father  and 
the  old  Sagamo  Membertou,  accompanied  him  for  some  dis- 
tance, each  in  a  separate  shallop  or  schooner-rigged  long 
boat.  They  kept  up  with  him  as  far  as  La  Heve,  and  then 
turned  back.  After  rounding  Cape  Sable,  Potrincourt  gave 
the  helm  to  one  of  his  men  and  went  to  sleep,  leaving  orders 
to  keep  in  along  the  shore.  When  he  awoke  he  was  far  out 
at  sea,  and  alone ;  for  the  wise  old  Indian  in  the  other  boat, 
not  knowing  why  his  companion  had  changed  his  course,  fol- 
lowed his  own  counsels  and  reached  home  in  safety.  For  six 
weeks  the  shallop  went  up  and  down  helplessly  in  all  direc- 
tions, for  the  poor  craft  was  damaged  on  one  side  and  could 
not  be  kept  close  to  the  wind.  Soon  the  provisions  gave 
out.  Fortunately,  however,  the  men  had  shot  some  cor- 
morants, but  being  in  an  open  vessel  it  was  impossible 
to  cook  the  game,  and  the  prospects  were  that  they  should 
have  to  eat  it  raw.  However,  by  means  of  a  loose  plank, 
they  succeeded  in  lighting  a  fire,  which  helped  them  to  roast 
the  birds,  at  least  to  some  extent.  They  worried  along 
until  they  reached  the  Penobscot.  They  felt  safe  then,  for 
from  there  to  Port  Royal  was  an  easy  sail.  Unfortunately, 
however,  they  came  near  Port  Royal  during  the  night  and 
the  men  disagreed  with  the  captain  as  to  their  whereabouts. 
Fle  yielded  to  them,  and  was  soon  far  out  in  the  ocean 
again  at  the  mercy  of  wind  and  waves.  Meantime  the  col- 
onists gave  them  up  for  lost,  especially  as  old  Membertou 
assured  them  he  had  seen  the  missing  boat  put  out  to  sea.     A 

19 


PETER   BIARD. 

council  was  held,  and  the  general  verdict  was  that  all  ought 
to  return  to  France,  as  it  was  deemed  impossible  on  account 
of  the  prevailing  winds  for  the  boat  ever  to  reach  the  shore. 
While  they  were  discussing  the  matter,  Potrincourt,  to  their 
great  amazement  and  relief  came  into  port. 

The  distress  was  great  when  Biencourt,  who  was  expected 
to  arrive  from  France  in  November,  failed  to  appear. 
Christmas  came  and  there  was  no  sign  of  a  ship.  They 
dragged  wearily  through  the  winter,  as  best  they  could. 
Every  one  was  on  short  allowance,  though  Potrincourt,  not 
to  alienate  the  savages,  kept  lavishing  his  gifts  on  them. 
Of  course  they  enjoyed  his  generosity,  but  when  asked  why 
they  did  not  give  something  in  return,  as  was  the  custom, 
answered  maliciously,  "  Potrincourt  is  too  good  to  want  our 
peltries."  However,  they  sent  some  fish  and  moose,  from 
time  to  time,  and  that  helped  a  little.  On  top  of  all  this 
the  millstream  froze,  and  there  was  no  means  of  making 
flour,  and  for  seven  weeks  peas  and  beans  had  to  be  sub- 
stikited.  They  succeeded  in  getting  a  fair  supply  of  fish, 
but  the  absence  of  bread  so  worried  them  that  it  was  deter- 
mined, in  case  the  vessel  did  not  arrive  in  May,  to  scour  the 
coast  in  order  to  find  a  vessel  to  take  them,  as  Biard  says, 
"to  the  land  of  the  wheat  and  the  grape."  Potrincourt,  how- 
ever, succeeded  in  inducing  them  to  wait  till  June.  May 
came,  and  the  time  had  nearly  expired.  Still  they  waited, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  22d  of  May  that  Biencourt  entered 
Port  Royal.     He  had  a  momentous  tale  to  unfold. 

Shortly  before  he  arrived  in  France,  Henry  IV  was 
assassinated.  In  consequence,  all  interest  in  the  distant 
colony  had  declined,  and  Biencourt  could  find  no  one  to 
assist  him  but  two  Calvinist  merchants  who  agreed  to  supply 
him  w^ith  a  cargo.  Hearing  of  his  arrival,  the  Queen 
Mother,  Marie  de  Medicis,  sent  orders  to  him  to  take  back 
with  him  to  America  the  Jesuit  missionaries  who  for  more 
than  two  years  had  been  waiting  to  cross  the  ocean.  That 
angered  the  Calvinist  merchants,  who  immediately  cancelled 

13 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

their  agreement.  "  Any  other  priests,  yes ;  but  Jesuits, 
no."  For  such  representatives  of  the  cloth  they  had  what 
Biard  describes  as  "  une  antipathie  insociable." 

Here  enters  the  fairy  god-mother  in  the  person  of  the 
Marquise  de  Guercheville,  a  great  dame  of  the  Court.  In- 
dignant that  the  orders  both  of  the  dead  king  and  of  the 
queen  regent  should  be  flouted  by  two  little  shop-keepers, 
she  went  around  among  her  rich  friends  and  begged  enough 
to  buy  out  the  entire  cargo.  She  then  made  the  two  mis- 
sionaries part  owners,  and  ordered  the  vessel  to  hoist  sail 
and  be  off;  and  at  last,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1611,  Biard 
was  able  to  write  to  the  Father  General  Aquaviva :  "  Mid- 
night has  just  struck;  to-morrow  at  the  point  of  day  we  set 
sail."  They  did  not  sail  however,  until  five  days  later. 
Appropriately  the  ship  was  called  The  Grace  of  God;  which 
intimated  what  they  were  sorely  in  need  of.  The  weather 
was  dirty;  the  ship  was  small  and  the  voyage  endless. 

Father  Biard,  who  was  the  chief  figure  in  this  missionary 
expedition,  was  not  an  ordinary  man.  He  had  been  a  pro- 
fessor of  scholastic  and  moral  theology  in  various  colleges 
of  France,  and  was  revered  for  his  exalted  virtue.  He  was 
born  at  Grenoble  in  1567,  and  entered  the  Society  in  1583. 
The  exact  dates,  however,  are  not  known ;  some  authorities 
putting  both  seven  years  later.  In  either  case  he  was  some- 
where among  the  forties  when  he  started  out  for  America. 
Giving  the  Jesuits  a  share  of  the  vessel's  cargo  was,  how- 
ever, a  great  source  of  pharasaical  scandal  in  France.  Here 
were  men  with  vows  of  poverty  exercising  the  rights  of 
proprietorship.  The  ecclesiastical  and  lay  mind  was  very 
much  stirred  up  by  it :  but  under  the  circumstances,  the 
average  canonist  will  not  accuse  them  of  violating  their 
vow,  and  Biard  was  a  good  enough  theologian  to  know  what 
he  was  doing. 

Champlain,  who  took  part  in  the  controversy,  averred 
that  "  the  Jesuits  always  acted  within  the  lines  of  the 
strictest  equity."     They  themselves  had  no  scruple  about 

14 


PETER   BIARa 

their  course,  and  their  only  regret  was  that  they  left  Europe 
so  soon  only  to  arrive  so  late.  It  was  mid-winter  and  the 
voyage  lasted  four  months.  Champlain,  who  had  set  sail 
after  them  on  his  way  to  Quebec,  found  them  struggling 
in  the  icebergs  in  the  Gulf.  Cape  Canso  was  the  first  land 
they  reached,  and  from  that  they  worked  their  way  along 
the  120  leagues  of  intervening  coast  until  they  came  to  Port 
Royal,  which,  the  "  Relation "  says,  they  entered  "  on 
June  22d,  1611,  which  happened  to  be  Pentecost  Sunday  " — 
an  evident  mistake,  for  it  is  in  contradiction  with  Biard's 
letter  which  gives  May  22d ;  and  besides,  Pentecost  of  1611 
fell  on  May  22d.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  festival  is  never 
as  late  as  June  22d. 

Whatever  proprietorship  the  Jesuits  had  in  the  cargo 
was  not  in  evidence  on  the  way  over.  They  worked  their 
passage ;  mended  and  washed  their  clothes  and  looked  after 
their  own  wants  like  the  humblest  man  on  board.  They 
even  won  the  good  will  of  Biencourt,  though  they  were  at 
first  unwelcome  passengers.  They  treated  him  as  the  abso- 
lute master  of  the  ship,  and  continued  the  same  line  of  con- 
duct after  landing.  They  ingratiated  themselves  with  the 
crew,  who  were  mostly  Calvinists,  got  them  to  join  in 
morning  and  night  prayers,  and  to  listen  to  the  sermons 
on  Sundays  and  festivals,  as  well  as  three  discourses  a  week 
during  Lent.  There  were  religious  discussions  also,  but 
without  fisticuffs,  and  all  finally  agreed  that  the  Jesuits  were 
not  the  monsters  they  were  generally  thought  to  be.  On 
the  contrary,  the  verdict  was  that  "  they  were  honest  and 
courteous  gentlemen  who  had  good  manners  and  a  straight 
conscience,"  which  is  a  very  valuable  endorsement  of  the 
much  misunderstood  Society. 

The  arrival  of  the  ship  naturally  threw  the  colony  into 
great  excitement.  Two  eager  individuals  hurried  out  in 
an  Indian  canoe  to  meet  it,  and  succeeded  in  upsetting  their 
boat,  and  the  flurry  of  course  increased.  Every  one 
on  the  beach  shouted  orders  which  could  be  heard  by  no  one 

15 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

else ;  while  Potrincourt  and  Biard  waved  their  hats  to  the 
distant  ship,  without  attracting  attention  and  then  knelt 
down  to  say  their  prayers.  Finally  the  luckless  wights  were 
fished  out  of  the  water,  thus  preventing  a  disaster  which 
would  have  been  a  damper  on  the  general  happiness.  It 
is  worth  noting  how  many  of  these  early  voyageurs  knew 
nothing  about  the  art  of  swimming,  which  for  their  manner 
of  life  would  be  the  first  thing  to  learn. 

Potrincourt  was  naturally  delighted  to  see  his  son,  for 
to  all  appearances  it  was  the  end  of  the  colony's  trials,  which 
were  even  worse  than  the  "  Relation  "  tells  us  of,  for  not 
only  was  every  one  down  to  starvation  fare,  but  Biard's 
letter  to  the  Provincial  says  that  for  three  weeks  a  number 
of  the  colonists  had  been  sent  off  to  live  among  the  Indians. 
Everything  seemed  bright  now,  but  unfortunately  all  hopes 
of  a  betterment  soon  vanished ;  for  the  ship's  supplies  were 
altogether  inadequate.  "  They  were  only  a  drop  of  water," 
says  Biard,  "  to  a  thirsty  man."  The  thirty-six  new  ar- 
rivals, added  to  the  twenty-three  colonists  already  there, 
made  fifty-nine  to  feed,  not  to  speak  of  the  hungry  Indian 
Chief,  Membertou,  his  daughter  and  their  troop.  Besides, 
as  the  ship  had  been  four  months  at  sea  its  provisions  were 
nearly  exhausted,  for  it  was  only  a  small  craft  of  fifty  or 
sixty  tons ;  more  of  a  fishing  smack  than  anything  else. 
Hence,  means  had  to  be  devised  to  disperse  this  large  family, 
both  to  provide  food  and  to  get  something  for  trading  with 
the  Indians ;  for  money  was  needed  to  pay  the  men  and  to 
get  means  for  the  journey  back  to  France. 

For  that  purpose  Potrincourt  set  out  for  a  place  twenty- 
two  leagues  west  of  Port  Royal,  where  he  hoped  to  meet 
some  French  traders.  Biard,  who  was  anxious  to  know  the 
country  and  get  acquainted  with  the  natives  went  with  him. 
On  their  way  they  came  across  four  vessels.  The  captains 
were  all  summoned  and  compelled  to  acknowledge  young 
Biencourt  as  vice-admiral.  They  all  contributed  their  quota 
of  provisions ;  but  "may  God  forgive  the  crew  from  Rochelle 

16 


PETER   BIARD. 

for  cheating  the  revenue,"  writes  Biard,  "  they  gave  us 
barrels  of  mouldy  bread  which  they  told  us  was  good." 

While  all  this  was  going  on,  Biard  heard  that  young 
Du  Pont,  the  son  of  the  famous  Pontgrave,  Champlain's  old 
associate,  was  living  among  the  Indians,  and,  unfortunately, 
behaving  like  them.  He  had  been  arrested  the  year  before 
by  Potrincourt  for  something  or  other,  but  had  escaped, 
and  was  in  great  misery,  not  even  daring  to  board  his  own 
vessel  for  fear  of  being  captured.  Biard  pleaded  for  him 
and  was  allowed  to  hunt  him  up.  He  found  him  and  recon- 
ciled him  to  Potrincourt;  the  ship's  cannon  announcing  the 
good  news  to  the  white  and  red  men.  The  poor  fellow- 
went  to  confession  on  the  beach,  the  Indians  looking  on  at 
a  distance  and  wondering  what  was  being  done  during  the 
long  time  they  saw  him  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  the  priest. 
When  that  was  over,  Mass  was  said  on  the  shore,  and  Pont- 
grave received  Holy  Communion.  This  interesting  event 
occurred,  according  to  the  "  Relation,"  at  La  Pierre  Blanche, 
which  was  probably  at  the  Grand  Menan,  for  there  is  a 
point  there  called  Whitehead — which  is  a  near  enough  trans- 
lation of  La  Pierre  Blanche.  When  all  was  over  the  prod- 
igal asked  to  have  Biard  dine  with  him  on  board  his  ship, 
which  shows  that  the  rulers  in  those  days  did  not  leave 
much  liberty  to  their  subjects.  The  petition  was  granted, 
but  Potrincourt  lost  his  temper  again  and  seized  the  vessel. 
Biard,  a  second  time  came  to  the  rescue  and  straightened 
out  the  difficulty,  "  for  which,"  he  writes,  "  I  shall  be 
forever  obliged  to  the  Sieur  de  Potrincourt." 

In  the  month  of  June  of  the  same  year,  1611,  Potrincourt 
started  back  to  France  with  all  the  colonists  except  twenty- 
two.  That  had  to  be  done,  otherwise  the  whole  party  must 
have  starved  to  death  in  the  winter  time.  The  missionaries 
then  set  to  work  to  study  the  language.  But  it  was  a  hope- 
less task.  The  Indians  had  no  abstract  ideas  whatever, 
and  when  it  came  to  explain  the  meaning  of  holiness,  sac- 
raments, faith,  law,  temptation  and  the  like,  complete  failure 

17 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

resulted.  What  added  to  the  trouble  was  that  the  wily 
savages  amused  themselves  by  putting-  foul  expressions  in 
the  mouths  of  their  questioners,  and,  moreover,  always 
insisted  on  being  fed  as  a  reward  for  their  pedagogical 
labors.  Biard  then  asked  young  Biencourt  for  leave  to  go 
and  pass  the  winter  with  Du  Pont,  who  was  eighteen  or 
twenty  leagues  from  Port  Royal,  and  who  having  lived 
among  the  savages  knew  their  language.  But  the  proposal 
put  the  youthful  governor  in  a  temper  and  for  sake  of  peace 
the  matter  was  dropped. 

Shortly  afterwards,  on  returning  from  a  trip  to  Ste.  Croix 
Island  with  Biencourt,  Biard  found  that  the  old  Sagama, 
Membertou,  had  arrived  very  ill  at  the  colony,  and  had  been 
installed  by  Father  Masse  in  Biard's  bed.  The  good  natured 
missionary,  however,  did  not  object  to  the  invasion,  but 
when  the  Indian's  wife  and  daughter  took  up  their  abode  in 
the  cabin,  making  it  almost  impossible  to  turn  around,  for 
the  place  was  extremely  small,  the  very  reasonable  request 
was  made  in  the  interests  of  propriety  and  convenience,  to 
have  the  sick  man  removed  to  another  cabin.  The  surly 
Biencourt  refused,  and  so  an  outside  addition  had  to  be 
built  to  the  establishment,  and  there  the  old  man  was  finally 
accommodated.  He  was  near  his  end  and  was  dying 
piously,  when  another  difficulty  arose ;  this  time  about  his 
prospective  interment. 

Backed  by  Biencourt,  he  wanted  to  be  buried  in  Indian 
fashion ;  a  request  which  the  priests  refused  to  entertain. 
That  called  for  more  temper  on  the  part  of  Biencourt,  but 
finally  the  chief  was  persuaded  to  yield,  and  they  gave  him 
a  Christian  funeral.  Biencourt,  however,  refused  to  bury 
his  own  resentment.  The  death  of  Membertou  was  a  dis- 
aster for  the  missionaries,  for  he  was  a  very  intelligent 
savage  and  a  good  Christian  according  to  his  lights.  He 
had  great  influence  among  his  people,  spoke  a  little  French 
and  did  his  best  to  instruct  the  priests  in  the  native  language. 
He  had  known  Jacques  Cartier,  and  was  said  to  be  over 

18 


PETER   BIARD. 

one  hundred  years  old,  and,  unlike  his  race,  cultivated  a 
beard.  If  that  were  so  it  is  difficult  to  understand  the  sur- 
prise of  the  Indians  at  the  hairy  chins  of  the  Frenchmen, 
but  perhaps  they  thought  that  only  Membertou  had  a  right 
to  the  distinction. 

An  event  occurred  at  this  juncture  which  showed  very 
clearly  that  the  settlement  of  Acadia  was  impossible  under 
the  petulant  and  conceited  Biencourt.  Hunger  was  again 
beginning  to  worry  the  colonists,  so  the  Governor  deter- 
mined to  go  out  on  a  hunt  for  food  among  the  Armouchi- 
quois  who  lived  near  what  would  be  now  the  borders  of 
Maine  and  Massachusetts.  He  was  very  late  in  starting, 
and  besides  had  determined  to  go  by  the  roundabout  way  of 
St.  John's  River,  where  Captain  Merveille  and  young  Du 
Pont,  with  five  or  six  others,  all  from  St.  Malo  in  France, 
had  thrown  up  a  little  fort,  about  eighteen  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  Biencourt  wanted  to  exact  a  fifth  of 
their  trading  profits,  for  he  claimed  the  monopoly  of  every- 
thing in  those  parts ;  which,  of  course,  was  going  to  be 
resented  by  those  joyous  freetraders. 

He  reached  the  place  about  night,  when  the  sky  suddenly 
reddened.  The  Indians  startled  by  the  phenomenon  pre- 
dicted war  and  bloodshed,  and  the  white  men  also  began 
to  prognosticate,  "  to  make  their  almanachs,"  says  Biard, 
As  the  ship  approached,  one  of  its  guns  saluted  the 
fort,  and  the  little  swivel  on  shore  gave  the  answering 
welcome.  Next  morning  prayers  were  said  (for  these  old 
marauders  were  very  devout),  and  a  couple  of  Frenchmen 
appeared  on  the  beach  inviting  the  visitors  to  disembark, 
saying  that  their  two  commanders,  Merveille  and  Du  Pont, 
had  been  away  for  three  days,  and  no  one  knew  when  they 
would  return.  Father  Biard  celebrated  Mass  on  the  shore, 
and  all  piously  assisted ;  but  immediately  afterwards,  Bien- 
court, to  the  amazement  of  everyone,  posted  sentries  around 
the  fort  and  declared  the  garrison  his  prisoners.  It  was  a 
shabby  return  for  their  hospitality.     Some  gave  themselves 

19 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

up  for  lost,  and  others  raged  furiously  and  meditated  all 
manner  of  vengeance. 

That  night  Captain  Merveille  returned  home,  and  was 
very  much  surprised  when  he  neared  the  fort  to  hear  a 
sentry  challenge  him  with  "Who  goes  there?"  "Who 
goes  there  yourself?"  he  answered.  Whereupon  the  man 
with  the  gun  took  aim  and  fired,  and  "  it  was  a  marvel," 
says  Biard,  "  that  Captain  Marvel  was  not  killed."  He 
was  at  least  very  much  astonished  when  several  soldiers 
rushed  out  and  took  him  prisoner.  It  was  a  curious  con- 
dition of  things  for  these  starving  exiles  to  be  cutting  such 
capers  at  midnight  in  the  woods  of  the  St,  John's  River. 
Merveille  was  gagged,  bound  and  dragged  inside;  and  his 
captors  began  to  disport  themselves  about  the  room,  leaping 
and  shouting  like  so  many  young  savages  The  poor 
wretch,  who  was  sick  at  the  time  and  worn  out  by  his  long 
journey,  threw  himself  on  the  ground  near  the  fire  and 
moaned  piteously,  while  everyone  else  shouted  and  roared 
at  their  captive.  Biard  strove  to  restore  order  but  without 
avail,  and  then  in  despair  knelt  down  to  pray.  After  a 
while  Merveille  perceived  him,  and  leaping  up  with  a  bound 
flung  himself  at  the  side  of  the  priest,  crying:  "  Father,  hear 
my  confession ;  I  am  a  dead  man,"  This  was  too  much  for 
a  scattered-brained  soldier,  who,  picking  up  a  musket  from 
where  Merveille  had  been  lying,  pulled  the  trigger,  and 
aiming  the  weapon  at  the  kneeling  man  cried  out :  "  Traitor 
— you  were  going  to  kill  us."  As  Merveille  was  hand- 
cuffed and  such  a  feat  impossible,  the  charge  seemed  only 
an  excuse  to  kill,  and  so  Biard  flung  himself  in  front  of  the 
gun.  He  finally  succeeded  in  persuading  the  excited  men 
to  put  the  prisoner  in  the  lock-up  for  the  night,  promising 
to  stand  guard  at  the  door  to  prevent  his  escape.  The 
victim  was  therefore  thrust  in,  bound  hand  and  foot,  but 
suffered  so  much  and  groaned  so  piteously  that  the  priest 
pleaded  to  have  the  chains  eased  a  trifle.  That  was  done ; 
but  the  captors  had  a  riotous  time  for  the  rest  of  the  night, 

20 


PETER   BIARD. 

while  Biard  kept  at  his  prayers  till  morning.  He  then  pre- 
pared Merveille  and  some  of  his  more  obstreperous  com- 
panions for  death.     But  the  execution  did  not  take  place. 

In  the  afternoon  he  asked  leave  to  go  out  and  hunt  for 
Du  Pont,  first  exacting  a  promise  of  good  treatment  from 
Biencourt.  He  had  hardly  left  the  fort  when  Du  Pont 
himself  walked  in,  and  then  everyone  suddenly  quieted  down, 
and  Biencourt  even  borrowed  Merveille's  boat  to  go  off 
to  visit  the  Armouchiquois  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
What  did  all  these  antics  mean?  Were  they  merely  rough 
sport  or  an  evidence  of  the  frivolity  and  fickleness  of  these 
curious  colonists? 

Biencourt  had  two  reasons  to  visit  the  Armouchiquois 
country ;  one  was  to  see  if  the  English  had  taken  possession 
there,  as  Paltrier,  who  had  been  captured  by  them  the  year 
before  assured  him  was  the  case;  the  other,  a  more  urgent 
one,  viz :  to  buy  some  corn  against  the  possible  starvation 
of  the  following  winter.  Biard  went  with  him,  and  he  has 
left  us  a  very  vivid  description  of  what  he  saw  in  these  parts. 
It  is  of  special  value,  as  it  is  the  first  picture  we  have  of 
Maine  as  it  was  300  years  ago.  It  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
*'  Relation."  but  in  a  letter  to  the  Provincial  in  France.  It 
is  dated  January  31,  1612,  and  was  consequently  written 
after  Biard's  return  to  Port  Royal. 

Before  reaching  the  Armouchiquois  country,  "  we  entered 
the  Kennebec,"  he  says.  "  which  is  eighty  leagues  from  Port 
Royal-  It  was  the  28th  of  October,  1611.  As  soon  as  our 
people  landed  they  hurried  off  to  see  the  English  fort;  for 
they  had  heard  there  was  no  one  in  it  " — which  shows  how 
brave  these  warriors  were.  "  They  soon  found  it ;  and  as 
everything  new  is  marvellous,  the  advantages  of  the  site 
formed  a  subject  of  general  admiration ;  but  opinions 
changed,  in  a  day  or  so,  when  it  was  seen  that  a  second  fort 
might  be  built  near  by  which  would  cut  off  the  first  both 
from  the  sea  and  the  river.  Besides,  there  were  other 
places  not  very  far  away,  which  were  just  as  good,  if  not 

21 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

better,  for  trading  purposes.  On  the  third  day,  as  there 
was  a  breeze  blowing  up  the  river,  and  the  tide  was  setting 
in,  it  was  determined  to  take  advantage  of  both  conditions 
to  explore  a  part  of  the  country.  We  had  gone  about  three 
leagues  when  the  tide  began  to  ebb  so  we  dropped  anchor 
in  mid-stream.  We  had  hardly  done  so  when  six  canoes, 
containing  twenty-eight  warriors,  were  seen  coming  towards 
us.  They  went  through  a  thousand  evolutions  as  they  ap- 
proached, and  they  looked  for  all  the  world  like  a  flock  of 
birds  hovering  over  a  ploughed  field,  but  afraid  of  the 
scarecrow.  We  were  not  displeased  at  their  slowness,  for 
it  gave  us  time  to  arm  and  fling  our  flags  to  the  wind. 
Finally  they  drew  near  and  carefully  studied  our  guns,  our 
weapons,  the  number  of  the  crew,  etc. ;  but  when  night 
came  on  they  set  off  for  the  other  side  of  the  river,  not  out 
of  the  reach  of  our  cannons,  but  too  far  for  a  good  aim. 

"  All  night  long  we  heard  them  singing  and  dancing 
and  making  speeches.  As  we  presumed  that  their  songs  and 
dances  were  incantations,  the  crew,  at  my  suggestion,  began 
to  chant  the  Salve  Regina,  Ave  Maris  Stella,  &c.  But  as 
the  sailors'  repertory  of  church  hymns  was  small,  they  fol- 
lowed with  every  song  they  knew,  and  when  that  stock  gave 
out  they  began  to  imitate  the  songs  and  dances  of  the  In- 
dians; for  your  Frenchman  is  a  born  mimic.  While  one 
party  sung,  the  other  kept  silence.  It  was  impossible  to 
refrain  from  laughing,  for  you  would  have  thought  they 
were  two  trained  choirs.  Indeed,  it  would  have  been  hard 
to  distinguish  the  genuine  Indian  song  from  the  imita- 
tion. 

**  When  morning  came,  we  resumed  our  journey  up  the 
stream.  They  accompanied  us  in  their  canoes,  and  told 
us  that  by  taking  the  right  branch  we  should  arrive  at  the 
village  of  the  great  Sagamo,  Meteourmite,  who  had  plenty 
of  corn.  They  would  go  with  us  and  show  us  the  way. 
Although  there  was  every  indication  that  they  were  playing 
a  trick  on  us  we  did  as  they  said,  part  of  them  going  ahead 

32 


PETER   BIARD. 

of  us,  part  following  after.  But  we  had  not  gone  a  half  a 
league  when  we  reached  a  widening  of  the  river.  Suddenly 
the  man  with  the  lead  cried  out :  '  two  fathoms ;  one  fathom ; 
one  fathom  everywhere.  Haul  in ;  haul  in ;  drop  anchor.' 
We  looked  around  for  the  Indians.  They  had  disappeared 
like  magic.  Oh,  the  traitors!  'About  ship!'  rang  out 
from  the  captain. 

"  Meteourmite,  however,  who  had  been  warned  of  our 
arrival,  and  saw  us  change  our  course,  came  in  all  haste 
to  meet  us.  Fortunately  Biencourt  had  better  sense  than 
his  crew,  who  wanted  to  murder  everybody.  They  were 
wild  with  rage  and  fear,  but  their  rage  made  the  most  noise. 
In  spite  of  that,  the  chief  was  received  with  respect,  and  he- 
assured  us  there  was  a  channel  we  could  safely  follow,  and 
he  offered  some  of  his  men  as  pilots.  We  believed  him  but 
repented  of  it,  when  we  found  ourselves  amid  such  perilous 
rapids  that  w^e  thought  we  should  never  escape.  Many  of 
the  men  were  terror  stricken,  and  cried  out  that  we  were 
surely  lost.     But  they  cried  too  soon. 

"  When  we  arrived,  Biencourt  put  his  men  under  arms, 
so  as  to  march  into  Meteourmite's  village  in  martial  array. 
On  entering  the  cabin  we  found  his  majesty  alone,  and 
seated ;  the  wigwam  from  bottom  to  top  was  hung  with 
mats,  and  outside  stood  forty  stalwart  warriors  on  guard, 
with  bows  and  arrow^s  on  the  ground  in  front  of  them. 
Those  Indians  are  not  fools  by  any  means. 

"  I  received  more  attention,"  continues  Biard,  "  than  all 
the  rest.  As  I  had  no  weapons,  the  most  distinguished 
chiefs  took  no  notice  of  the  soldiers,  but  bestowed  on  me 
every  mark  of  friendship.  They  conducted  me  to  the  largest 
wigwam,  where  about  eighty  people  were  assembled.  When 
all  had  taken  their  places,  I  fell  on  my  knees,  and  making 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  recited  the  Pater,  Ave  and  Credo  and 
some  other  prayers,  and  the  Indians  after  a  pause  cried  out, 
as  if  they  understood  me,  *  Ho !  Ho !  '  I  then  distributed 
crosses  and  pictures  among  them  and  tried  to  make  them 

23 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

understand  as  well  as  I  could.  They  kissed  the  pious  ob- 
jects, tried  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  held  up  their 
children  to  be  blessed.  The  same  thing  was  repeated  in 
another  cabin. 

"  Meteourmite  told  Biencourt  that  he  had  not  much  corn 
but  had  some  pelts  to  sell ;  and  next  morning  while  the 
trade  was  going  on  I  went  on  shore  to  say  Mass,  taking  a 
boy  as  server.  Our  people  on  the  ship,  to  avoid  surprise, 
had  armed  themselves  to  the  teeth,  and  built  up  barricades 
on  the  deck,  leaving  the  centre  free  for  the  Indians  who 
began  to  swarm  over  the  ship.  But  their  precautions  w^ere 
useless;  the  red  men  were  everywhere,  mixed  up  pell-mell 
with  the  crew.  In  vain  the  Frenchmen  cried  '  Back !  Back ! ' 
the  Indians  shouted  louder  than  they. 

"  There  was  nothing  but  tumult  and  confusion.  Every- 
one was  sure  it  was  a  trap.  Indeed,  Biencourt  said  after- 
wards that  he  was  more  than  once  on  the  point  of  crying 
'  Kill !  Kill ! '  but  the  thought  of  me  in  the  woods  choked 
back  the  words.  Had  he  given  the  order  not  only  I,  but 
every  Frenchman  would  have  been  slaughtered,  and  the 
French  name  would  have  been  forever  execrated  along  the 
coast.  Meteourmite  and  some  of  the  other  chiefs  saw  the 
danger  and  called  off  their  people.  In  the  evening  a  num- 
ber of  Indians  were  sent  to  make  excuses  for  the  trouble 
in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  and  to  lay  the  blame  on  a 
party  of  Armouchiquois  who  had  got  in  among  them. 
They,  themselves,  respected  the  French,  for  they  saw  that 
they  had  treated  the  natives  well,  eating  with  them  and 
giving  them  presents  which  had  been  brought  from  France. 
All  this  was  announced  to  us  in  grand  discourses ;  for  those 
people  are  the  greatest  speech-makers  on  earth.  They  do 
nothing  without  a  speech. 

"  It  appears  that  all  the  trouble  arose  from  what  some 
Englishmen  had  done  a  few  years  before.  In  1608  they 
had  settled  at  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Kennebec,  and 
although  the  commander  was  an  excellent  man,  and  treated 

24 


PETER   BIARD. 

the  natives  kindly,  he  was  killed.  In  1009  the  next  party 
of  English  assumed  the  offensive  and  dealt  sternly  with  the 
Indians.  In  consequence,  the  Armouchiquois  took  their 
revenge  on  every  pale  face  they  could  lay  their  hands  on; 
and  one  day,  watching  the  enemy,  and  seeing  three  shallops 
go  off  to  fish,  they  followed  cautiously,  approaching  with 
every  sign  of  friendship,  but  at  a  given  signal  each  red-skin 
plunged  his  knife  into  his  victim's  throat.  Eleven  English- 
men were  murdered  that  day,  and  the  rest  of  the  party  aban- 
doned the  Kennebec,  only  venturing  occasionally  on  the 
Island  of  Emmentic  which  was  eight  leagues  away  from  the 
fort. 

"  When  Biencourt  heard  this  story  he  went  down  to  the 
Island  and  erected  a  cross  there  with  the  arms  of  France  on 
it.  He  found  some  shallops  on  the  shore  and  was  urged 
to  burn  them,  but  as  he  was  of  a  mild  and  humane  dis- 
position he  refused,  saying  that  they  belonged  to  fishermen 
and  not  to  soldiers.  It  w-as  now  the  6th  of  November  and 
we  started  for  Port  Royal,  intending  to  visit  the  Penobscot 
on  our  way,  which  we  found  to  be  a  beautiful  river,  some- 
thing like  the  Garonne  in  France.  It  empties  into  the  Bay  of 
Fundy.  When  you  ascend  the  stream  it  seems  like  a  great 
sound  or  inlet  of  the  sea.  Where  you  first  meet  the  cur- 
rent the  river  is  about  three  leagues  in  width,  and  you  are 
then  about  44^°  north  latitude.  You  cannot  imagine  what 
the  Norumbega  of  the  Ancients  was  if  it  was  not  this. 
We  asked  about  that  place  but  could  get  no  information. 

"  We  continued  on  about  three  leagues  further,  and  came 
to  another  fine  river  called  the  Chiboctos,  which  flows  from 
the  northeast  into  the  Penobscot.  At  the  confluence  we 
saw  in  front  of  us  the  finest  assembly  of  Indians  we  had 
yet  met  with.  There  were  eighty  canoes  and  a  shallop,  and 
in  their  village  we  found  eighteen  cabins  and  about  three 
hundred  people.  Their  most  conspicuous  chief  was  called 
Betsabes,  who  was  a  very  discreet  and  self -controlled  indi- 
vidual.    Indeed,  one  meets  among  these  savages  instances 

25 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

of  natural  virtue  and  political  skill  that  make  one  who  is 
not  lost  to  all  sense  of  shame,  blush  for  some  of  the  French 
who  come  to  these  parts. 

"  When  they  recognized  us  there  was  great  joy  and  all 
began  to  dance  and  sing.  We  had  no  fear  of  them,  for 
we  trusted  the  Etchemins  and  Souriquois  as  much  as  our 
own  servants,  and  thank  God !  we  were  not  often  deceived. 
On  the  following  day  I  visited  the  savages,  and  the  same 
ceremonies  were  gone  through  with  as  on  the  Kennebec. 
I  went  around  to  see  the  sick,  and  read  the  gospel  and  re- 
cited prayers  over  them,  giving  each  a  cross  to  wear.  I 
found  one  poor  wretch  who  had  been  ill  for  four  months 
and  who  was  stretched  out  near  the  fire.  The  death  sweat 
was  already  on  his  forehead.  Two  days  afterwards  I  saw 
him  in  his  canoe  sound  and  hearty.  He  came  out  to  the 
ship  to  thank  me,  and  to  show  me  the  cross  around  his 
neck.  I  could  only  shake  hands  with  him,  for  I  was  unable 
to  speak  his  language,  and  even  if  I  were,  there  was  such  a 
turmoil  around  us,  for  the  trafficking  was  going  on,  that 
we  could  not  have  heard  each  other. 

"  Such  was  the  result  of  our  visit.  We  had  not  done 
much  preaching  of  the  Gospel  but  we  were  beginning  to 
know  and  be  known.  The  Indians  were  growing  accus- 
tomed to  religious  things,  and  w^hen  we  said  Mass  in  the 
woods  they  would  stand  around  in  respectful  silence.  They 
were  as  pleased  as  the  little  boys  at  Port  Royal  whom  we 
made  carry  the  cross,  or  the  torches,  or  the  holy  water, 
when  we  went  in  procession  at  the  Indian  interments." 


26 


w 
P 

H 

2; 
o 

o 

w 
« 
o 
w 

w 

H 

o 


CHAPTER  II. 
Mount  Desert. 

After  leaving  the  Penobscot,  the  travelers  touched  at  Ste. 
Croix  Island,  where  Captain  Platrier  had  settled.  From 
him  Biencourt  obtained  a  couple  of  barrels  of  peas.  It  was 
a  welcome  contribution,  small  as  it  was,  and  as  every  one 
was  then  in  good  humor,  Biard  asked  permission  to  go  to 
the  settlement  on  the  St.  John's  in  order  to  study  Indian 
with  Du  Pont,  but  Biencourt  would  consent  only  on  con- 
dition that  the  priest  would  support  the  sailors  of  the  ship 
until  spring  time.  As  such  an  agreement  was  out  of  the 
question  they  all  returned  to  Port  Royal.  It  was  high  time, 
for  already  winter  was  taking  its  grip  on  the  harbor.  Biard 
was  worn  out  and  ill,  but  soon  managed  to  get  on  his  feet 
again.  Snow  fell  on  the  26th  of  November,  and  provisions 
again  ran  so  short  that  each  one  was  down  to  a  supply  of 
ten  ounces  of  bread,  a  half  pound  of  pork,  three  spoonfuls 
of  peas,  and  one  of  prunes  which  had  to  last  for  a  week. 
Occasionally  an  Indian  came  in  with  some  fish  or  game 
and  a  feast  followed,  but  there  were  gloomy  apprehensions 
for  the  long  winter  ahead.  "  On  the  third  Sunday  after 
Christmas,"  writes  Biard,  "  I  was  preaching  on  the  mar- 
riage feast  of  Cana,  and  after  the  service  I  quoted  the  text 
to  Biencourt :  '  Vinum  non  habent :  they  have  no  wine,' 
and  asked  him  to  give  what  was  left  in  the  barrel  to  his 
people.  It  would  cheer  them  up  and  perhaps  help  would 
soon  arrive.  We  had  a  feast  that  day,  and  lo!  one  week 
afterwards  a  vessel  arrived  from  France  and  we  had  plenty 
to  eat  for  the  rest  of  the  winter." 

This  vessel  was  the  practical  outcome  of  the  long  nego- 
tiations of  the  elder  Biencourt  with  the  Marquise  de 
Guercheville.     Being  at  his  wits'  ends  to  find  backers  for  his 

27 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

ill-fated  scheme,  he  bethought  himself  of  the  pious  marquise. 
She  again  consented  to  furnish  money,  but  this  time  very 
wisely  insisted  on  having  some  of  the  profits ;  and  she  went 
so  far  as  to  propose  to  purchase  for  a  thousand  crowns  the 
whole  of  the  Acadian  grant,  except  Port  Royal.  Potrincourt 
was  incensed  ;  whereupon  she  demanded  his  charter.  To  ^ain 
time,  he  said  it  was  in  America,  whereupon  she  addressed 
herself  to  the  original  owner,  Du  Gast,  who  declared  that 
his  charter  had  never  been  cancelled,  and  he  forthwith  made 
over  to  her  the  whole  of  Acadia,  by  which  she  came  into 
possession  of  all  the  country  from  Florida  to  Labrador,  and 
going  west  as  far  as  she  could  find  land.  She  w^as  thus  on 
paper  the  greatest  land-lady  that  America  has  ever  known. 
Naturally  the  purchase  did  not  help  the  temper  of  Potrin- 
court but  he  had  to  submit ;  so  he  appointed  as  his  agent  a 
certain  Simon  Imbert,  a  former  tavern  keeper  of  Paris, 
an  arrangement  that  gave  fresh  cause  for  misunderstand- 
ings and  troubles.  When  the  vessel  arrived  at  Port  Royal 
January  23d,  1612,  every  one  was  happy  except  young  Bien- 
court,  for  he  soon  heard  of  the  negotiations  in  France.  To 
make  matters  w^orse,  a  lay-brother,  Gilbert  du  Thet,  who 
came  over  as  the  agent  of  the  marquise  informed  Biencourt 
of  what  everyone  knew,  that  Imbert  had  kept  no  account 
of  the  cargo  or  the  disbursements  of  the  money  given  him ; 
that  he  had  sold  some  of  the  goods  at  Dieppe,  had  disposed 
of  other  supplies  on  the  voyage,  and  had  not  given  an  exact 
list  on  his  arrival.  The  imprudent  Biencourt  made  all  haste 
to  communicate  this  to  Imbert  himself.  That  started  a 
storm.  There  were  recriminations  on  all  sides,  and  Imbert 
persuaded  Biencourt  that  it  was  a  deep-laid  Jesuit  plot  to 
dispossess  him  and  his  father  from  all  their  holdings  in  the 
colony.  Indeed  Lescarbot  and  Le  Tac  narrate  that  du  Thet 
proceeded  to  excommunicate  his  opponents;  but,  as  du  Thet 
was  a  lay  brother,  such  a  proceeding  was  beyond  his  powers ; 
nor  did  he  or  any  one  else  ever  think  of  such  a  performance. 
But  it  is  a  curious  instance  of  the  persistency  of  historical 

38 


PETER    BIARD. 

falsehood,  that  even  many  Cathohc  writers  still  speak  of 
du  Thet  as  a  priest. 

Finally  peace  was  made,  but  prosperity  did  not  accom- 
pany it.  For  some  reason  or  other  Biencourt  had  got  it 
into  his  head  that  a  whole  fleet  was  to  come  out  to  supply 
him  with  provisions,  and  hence  he  rapidly  bartered  off  all 
he  had  for  peltries,  with  the  result  that  the  unfortunate 
colony  was  again  struggling  with  starvation.  Du  Thet  had 
meantime  returned  to  France  and  poor  old  Potrincourt  was 
once  more  importuning  the  marquise  for  help.  But  the 
good  dame's  patience  was  exhausted.  The  missionaries  had 
informed  her  that  it  was  impossible  to  do  anything  with  the 
Indians  under  Biencourt,  and  very  little  with  the  French, 
on  account  of  the  Calvinist  leaven  in  the  colony.  Martin 
says  that  they  sent  her  a  map  and  urged  a  distinctively 
Catholic  settlement  on  "  the  continent."  The  word  "  con- 
tinent "  is  somewhat  peculiar,  especially  when  employed  by 
Martin,  for  it  would  imply  that  Nova  Scotia  was  an  island 
which  of  course  it  is  not.  On  the  other  hand  Hannay,  in  his 
"  History  of  Acadia,"  tells  us  that  the  missionaries  had  pro- 
cured a  chart  of  the  country,  and  that  when  their  plans  had 
been  discovered  by  Biencourt,  he  entered  into  a  towering 
rage  and  declared  he  would  put  them  under  arrest  if  they  at- 
tempted to  leave  the  colony,  as  they  had  been  sent  there 
by  royal  order.  He  also  adds  that  Biencourt  suspended  all 
religious  services  for  three  months.  Biard  says  nothing 
of  this ;  and  as  for  finding  the  chart,  he  must  have  known  the 
coast  of  Maine  nearly  as  well  as  Biencourt.  At  all  events 
the  marquise  fitted  out  a  ship,  but  unfortunately  handed  it 
over  to  another  blunderer,  La  Saussaye,  bidding  him  to  call 
at  Port  Royal  to  take  the  Jesuits  there  with  him  and  to 
look  for  some  other  place  to  found  a  colony. 

There  were  forty  people  in  La  Saussaye's  expedition,  in- 
cluding Brother  du  Thet  and  Father  Quentin.  They  had 
horses,  and  goats,  and  tents,  and  plenty  of  provisions  on 
board,  so  that  the  prospects  were  bright  when  the  vessel 

29 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

left  Honfleur  on  the  12th  of  March,  1613.  They  reached 
Cape  de  la  Heve  on  the  16th  of  May  and  went  ashore 
where  Mass  was  celebrated,  and  a  cross  erected  with  the 
Guercheville  escutcheon  upon  it.  From  thence  they  made 
their  way  to  Port  Royal,  where,  to  their  amazement,  they 
found  only  five  persons;  the  two  priests,  Biard  and  Masse; 
their  servant;  the  apothecary  Hebert,  who  afterwards  be- 
came so  conspicuous  in  Quebec;  and  another  person  whose 
name  or  occupation  is  not  given.  The  rest  were  away  in 
the  woods.  La  Saussaye  waited  at  Port  Royal  for  five 
days,  but  as  no  one  else  appeared  he  took  the  two  priests 
on  board  and  sailed  away  over  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  the  in- 
tention being  to  settle  at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot,  at  a 
place  called  Kadesquit.  "  But  God,"  says  the  pious  chroni- 
cler, "  disposed  otherwise,  for  while  we  were  off  the  Island 
of  Menan,  a  heavy  fog  came  down  upon  us,  turning  the 
day  into  night,  and  there  we  remained  for  forty-eight  hours 
veering  now  to  the  left  and  now  to  the  right  as  God  inspired 
us."  At  last  the  stars  appeared,  and  on  the  third  day  the 
fog  lifted  and  the  travellers  found  themselves  opposite 
Mount  Desert,  which  the  Indians  called  Pemetig.  The  pilot 
worked  around  to  the  east  of  the  Island  and  entered  a 
spacious  port.  Going  ashore,  they  erected  a  cross,  sung  a 
hymn  of  thanksgiving  and  after  Mass  was  celebrated  held 
a  consultation  and  decided  to  name  the  place  St.  Sauveur. 

Champlain  had  been  there  in  1605,  and  had  called  the 
island  LTsle  aux  Monts  Deserts,  because  of  the  five-notched 
hill,  whose  "  shrubless  brow,"  as  Whittier  with  his  muddled 
metaphor  describes  it,  seemed  to  Champlain  when  he  was 
out  in  the  open  to  be  a  barren  heap  of  stone.  A  monument 
recently  erected  on  the  shore  commemorates  Champlain's 
visit.  Four  years  after  Champlain's  arrival  a  less  peaceful 
explorer  dropped  anchor  there.  It  was  Henry  Hudson,  on 
on  his  way  to  the  river  which  bears  his  name,  though  it 
had  been  called  after  St.  Anthony  long  before  the  Half 
Moon  had  crossed  the  Atlantic.     There  is  no  monument  to 

30 


(  IIAMi'l.AlX    Alo.XL'MKXT,    AJOL'XT   DKSKKT. 


PETER   BIARD. 

Hudson  at  Bar  Harbor,  nor  should  there  be,  for  he  records 
in  his  "  Journal  "  that  "  in  the  morning  we  manned  our 
scute  with  four  muskets  and  six  men  and  took  one  of  the 
Indian  shallops  and  brought  it  aboard.  Then  we  manned 
our  boat  and  scute  with  twelve  men  and  muskets  and  two 
stone  pieces  or  murderers,  and  drove  the  savages  from  their 
houses,  and  took  the  spoil  of  them."  How  many  savages 
were  slain  by  the  "  murderers  "  when  Hudson  "  took  the 
spoil  "  of  the  Indians  we  are  not  told,  but  it  is  noteworthy 
that  although  this  interesting  event  happened  only  four  years 
before  the  arrival  of  La  Saussaye,  the  Frenchmen  were 
received  very  cordially,  which  would  go  to  show  that  the 
Indians  even  then  were  observers  of  racial  differences. 

Another  interesting  fact  about  Bar  Harbor  is  that  eighty 
years  afterwards,  namely  in  1688,  the  famous  French  Baron 
de  Castine,  who  had  married  an  Indian  squaw,  lived  there, 
but  he  was  driven  out  by  Governor  Andros  who  pillaged 
the  settlement  and  conscientiously  destroyed  the  altar. 
Another  notable  individual  is  also  identified  with  Mt.  Desert, 
namely  de  la  Mothe  Cadillac,  the  founder  of  Detroit,  who 
was  styled  the  Seigneur  of  Bonaquat  and  Mt.  Desert. 
Whether  he  was  ever  there  in  person  is  not  certain,  but  in 
virtue  of  the  grant  made  to  him  in  1688,  his  descendants, 
the  Gregoires,  had  their  claim  of  possession  allowed  by  the 
Court  of  Massachusetts  after  the  Revolutionary  war.  It 
is  curious  to  find  Cadillac,  who  was  the  great  enemy  of  the 
missionaries  at  Mackinac  in  1700,  in  control  of  the  place 
whence  the  predecessors  of  those  same  missionaries  were 
driven  in  1613.  To-day,  as  every  one  knows,  Bar  Harbor 
is  the  refuge  of  opulence  from  the  summer  heats,  but  there 
is  a  Catholic  church  there  with  the  title  of  St.  Sauveur,  or 
Holy  Redeemer.  A  Protestant  chapel  has  assumed  the 
name  also,  and  even  the  streets  and  caravanseries  perpetuate 
it. 

When  La  Saussaye  landed  at  Mt.  Desert  in  1613,  the 
inevitable   quarreling  immediately  began ;  some   were   for 

31 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  A^IERICA. 

remaining  where  they  were,  others  for  going  off  to  look  for 
Kadesquit.  But  the  Indians  persuaded  the  travellers  that 
the  place  they  were  in  was  the  best  to  be  found,  and  so  it 
was  finally  decided  to  make  the  settlement  permanent. 
"  Rude  entrenchments,"  says  Bancroft,  "  were  raised  by 
La  Saussaye  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Mt.  Desert  Isle.  The 
conversion  of  the  heathen  was  the  motive  to  the  settlement ; 
the  natives  venerated  Biard  as  a  messenger  from  heaven, 
and  under  the  summer  sky,  round  a  cross  in  the  centre  of 
the  hamlet,  matins  and  vespers  were  regularly  chanted. 
France  and  the  Roman  religion  had  appropriated  the  soil 
of  Maine." 

Apart  from  the  fact  that  there  was  no  "  chanting  of 
matins  and  vespers,"  for  these  missionaries  were  not  monks, 
the  distinguished  historian  misses  the  important  point  in 
the  establishment  of  this  unfortunate  colony.  La  Saussaye, 
or  de  la  Saussaye,  as  Charlevoix  calls  him,  did  not  raise 
any  '*  rude  entrenchments,"  at  least  immediately.  His  fail- 
ure to  do  so  was  the  head  and  front  of  his  offending.  He 
was  bent  on  laying  out  farms,  and  although  entreated  by 
every  one  to  do  something  in  the  way  of  defense  against 
possible  attack  he  refused,  though  he  seems  to  have  at- 
tempted something  later,  Charlevoix  credits  him  with  a 
fort  which  suffered  a  cannonade,  though  it  had  no  gun  to 
reply,  but  the  distinguished  Jesuit's  account  of  the  taking 
of  St.  Sauveur  is  one  mass  of  errors.  It  is  hard  to  explain 
his  mistakes,  as  he  must  have  read  the  account  of  Biard, 
who  was  an  eye  witness ;  but  possibly  he  wrote  from 
memory  after  perusing  the  document.  "  Every  one  was  in 
bad  temper,"  says  Biard,  "  but  the  English  soon  made  us 
agree." 

All  that  summer  a  vessel  from  Virginia  had  been  prowling 
around  the  coast,  ostensibly  in  quest  of  fish,  but  as  it  had  four- 
teen cannon  and  sixty  musketeers,  its  occupation  could  not 
have  been  such  a  peaceful  one.  Charlevoix  says  it  was  con- 
voying a  fleet  of  fishing  smacks,  but  none  of  these  vessels 

32 


o 

X 

X 
-r; 


0 


-I 

■J 


PETER   BIARD. 

appeared  on  the  scene.  Samuel  Argall,  its  captain,  Biard 
found  very  courteous  in  his  ways,  but  from  what  the  Protes- 
tant writers  tell  us  of  him,  he  had  many  an  evil  deed  to  ac- 
count for.  Among  other  things  he  is  credited  with  having 
carried  off  the  famous  Indian  princess,  Pocahontas,  from  a 
chief  to  whom  Powhatan  had  confided  her.  Argall  bribed  the 
custodian  with  a  brass  kettle  and  then  led  the  maiden  off  to 
Jamestown.  The  outrage  very  nearly  provoked  a  general 
massacre  of  the  colonists.  It  was  particularly  odious  be- 
cause it  occurred  after  Pocahontas  had  saved  Captain  John 
Smith  from  death.  In  spite  of  this,  Argall  became 
Deputy  Governor  of  Virginia  in  1617,  but  was  so  tyrannical 
that  he  was  recalled  to  England  in  1619.  He  had,  however, 
taken  care  to  amass  a  fortune  meantime.  It  is  asserted 
that  while  returning  from  the  expedition  in  which  we  now 
see  him,  he  stopped  at  Manhattan  and  demanded  its  sur- 
render from  the  Dutch  on  the  ground  that  it  was  discovered 
by  an  Englishman.  But  Brodhead,  in  his  "  History  of 
New  York,"  denounces  this  as  "  fabulous."  After  Dela- 
ware's death,  Argall  took  charge  of  the  estate.  Letters  of 
Lady  Delaware,  yet  in  existence,  accuse  him  of  flagrant 
peculation. 

Such  was  the  buccaneer  who  was  sailing  along  the  coast 
of  Maine  in  the  summer  of  1613.  He  had  been  lost  in  the 
fog,  but  when  the  sky  cleared  he  picked  up  an  Indian  who 
told  him  of  the  French  settlement  near  by.  It  was  great 
news  for  his  ragged  and  ravenous  crew,  and  under  the 
guidance  of  the  red  man,  who  fancied  he  was  bringing 
friends  together  but  who  was  afterwards  nearly  killed  by  his 
fellow  savages  for  his  error,  Argall  set  every  sail  for  Mt. 
Desert.  "He  came  into  the  harbor  like  an  arrow,"  says 
Biard ;  "  the  wind  was  aft,  the  blood  red  banner  of  England 
floated  at  the  peak,  and  three  trumpeters  and  two  drummers 
kept  up  a  tremendous  noise.  La  Saussaye  remained  on  shore 
and  kept  the  greatest  number  of  his  men  around  him,  while 
La  Motte,  the  lieutenant,  Ron  fere,  the  ensign,  and  Joubert, 

33 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  sergeant,  hurried  to  join  Captain  Flory  on  the  ship. 
But  alas !  she  was  at  anchor  and  could  not  budge ;  there  were 
only  ten  sailors  on  board,  none  of  whom  ever  expected  a 
sea  fight ;  and  worst  of  all  the  sails  were  down,  and  stretched 
like  a  tent  on  the  deck  from  stem  to  stern.  "  It  was  for- 
tunate," says  Biard,  somewhat  cynically,  or  paternally,  "  for 
it  protected  the  men,  and  none  of  them  could  be  picked  off 
by  the  English  musketeers  when  they  came  to  close  quar- 
ters. '  Who  are  you  ?  '  shouted  the  English  as  they  ap- 
proached. The  French  replied  in  the  sailor  fashion  of  those 
days :  '  O !  O ! '  But  the  only  acknowledgement  from  the 
other  side  was  a  discharge  of  cannon  and  musketry.  The 
shots  fell  all  at  once  on  the  sides,  and  bow,  and  poop.  To 
Biard's  eyes  the  enemy's  ship  seemed  all  aflame.  "  Fire," 
cried  Captain  Flory,  but  the  cannoneer  was  conveniently 
ashore;  whereupon  the  lay-brother,  du  Thet,  who  was  no 
coward,  though  Father  Charlevoix  says  his  courage  was 
"  zrai  on  prctendii,"  seized  the  match  and  blazed  away. 
Unfortunately  he  did  not  take  aim.  "  Had  he  done  so," 
says  the  chronicle,  "  there  would  have  been  something  more 
than  noise." 

The  enemy  then  came  alongside  and  the  grappling  irons 
were  flung  out  to  seize  the  prey:  but  Captain  Flory  let  go 
the  cable  and  saved  himself  for  a  moment.  The  vessel  could 
only  go  a  certain  length  at  best,  and  the  English  opened  fire 
with  their  muskets.  It  was  in  that  discharge  that  du  Thet 
fell  mortally  wounded.  The  Captain  received  a  ball  in  the 
foot,  and  three  of  the  men  were  more  or  less  seriously 
wounded.  Some  one  shouted  "  we  surrender,"  others 
sprang  overboard  and  swam  for  shore,  but  two  of  them  were 
either  drowned  or  shot  before  they  reached  the  land.  The 
battle  was  over.     The  English  boarded  and  took  the  ship. 

The  victors  then  went  ashore  and  demanded  by  what 
right  the  French  were  on  their  territory.  They  sought  for 
La  Saussaye,  but  that  worthy  had  disappeared.  Whereupon 
Argall  began  to  rifle  the  trunks,  and  to  his  great  delight 

34 


PETER   BIARD. 

found  La  Saussaye's  commission.  That  valuable  document 
he  pocketed  forthwith,  and  putting  everything  else  back 
again  very  neatly,  "  gcntiment,"  says  Biard,  waited  for  the 
gallant  commander's  return.  When  he  made  his  appearance 
he  was  received  very  politely  and  with  many  professions  of 
regard,  and  after  a  while  was  requested  to  show  his  papers. 
He  went  to  his  trunk,  found  everything  in  good  order  but, 
of  course,  there  was  no  commission.  The  farce  went  on. 
"  What!  "  thundered  Argall,  "  you  pretend  to  have  a  royal 
commission,  and  you  have  no  papers  to  prove  it.  Avaunt! 
pirates,  and  free  hooters ;  you  deserve  to  be  hanged.  Go, 
men,  and  seize  your  booty,"  and  off  they  posted  to  the  ship, 
while  the  Frenchmen  sat  on  the  shore  and  looked  on  at  the 
plundering.  Next  day  the  loot  began  on  land.  There  was 
some  rough  scuffling  for  a  time,  and  a  number  of  the  set- 
tlers fled  to  the  woods,  starving  and  half  naked  though  they 
were,  rather  than  take  their  chances  with  the  English. 

On  board  of  Argall's  ship  was  a  Catholic  surgeon.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  we  do  not  know  his  name,  for  he  had 
the  wounded  taken  on  shore,  and  tenderly  cared  for.  Du 
Thet  died  twenty-four  hours  afterwards,  and  was  buried  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross  which  had  been  erected  in  the  centre 
of  the  settlement.  Where  the  exact  spot  is  has  not  been 
ascertained.  Biard  and  Masse  meanwhile  had  gone  on  the 
ship  to  implore  the  Captain  to  be  merciful  with  the  settlers. 
They  succeeded,  and  when  he  discovered  that  they  were 
Jesuit  missionaries,  he  expressed  his  surprise  to  find  them 
in  the  company  of  such  scoundrels ;  a  somewhat  sardonic 
remark  from  an  Englishman  in  Reformation  times.  They 
of  course,  defended  their  associates,  and  he  was  finally  con- 
vinced that  his  captives  were  not  pirates,  for  he  added : 
"  It  is  a  pity  you  have  lost  your  papers.  I  shall  see  about 
your  return  to  France."  After  that  he  insisted  that  the  two 
priests  should  take  their  meals  at  his  table,  and  he  continued 
from  that  out  to  treat  them  with  the  greatest  respect.  He 
had  his  game  to  play,  for  he  wanted  to  lay  hands  on  the 

35 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

French  pilot  and  some  of  the  crew  who  had  escaped  and 
were  hiding  in  the  woods.  It  was  an  uncomfortable  position 
for  the  English,  as  they  could  not  leave  any  witnesses  of 
their  exploit  behind  them.  Perhaps  had  they  succeeded  in 
capturing  the  fugitives,  the  whole  party  would  have  been 
taken  care  of  so  as  to  tell  no  tales.  "  But  on  the  whole," 
says  Biard,  "  Argall  acted  like  a  gentleman,  and  his  people 
were  not  inhuman  or  cruel  to  any  of  their  captives." 

What  was  to  be  done  with  the  Frenchmen?  Biard  tells 
us  that  the  Indians  volunteered  to  provide  for  them  on  shore. 
But  as  wintering  among  the  savages  was  as  yet  an  impos- 
sible feat  for  the  average  white  man,  and  as  the  natives 
themselves  had  scarcely  anything  to  eat,  it  was  considered 
unwise  to  accept  the  offer.  Nevertheless,  one  naturally  asks 
why  did  not  the  missionaries  at  least,  who  had  come  over 
to  evangelize  the  Indians,  take  this  opportunity  of  living 
among  them,  learning  their  language  and  beginning  the 
w^ork  of  conversion  ?  As  for  learning  the  language  directly 
from  the  natives,  that  had  been  found  impossible,  and  so 
Biard  asked  to  be  landed  on  the  Island  of  Pencoit  wliere 
there  were  some  English  fishermen  whom  Argall  was  to 
request  to  look  after  the  priests  and  have  them  conveyed 
some  way  or  other  to  France.  Did  the  missionaries  lose 
courage  or  did  they  conclude  that  it  would  be  a  useless 
sacrifice  of  life,  to  repeat  what  had  nearly  put  an  end  to 
Masse  a  few  months  before  in  Acadia  ?  The  most  plausible 
solution  is  that  they  were  afraid  of  Biencourt,  whom  they 
had  left  in  Acadia. 

Argall,  however,  concluded  to  put  the  thirty  Frenchmen 
in  a  shallop  and  let  them  shift  for  themselves,  and  La  Saus- 
saye  assented  to  that  arrangement.  But  a  protest  was 
made  by  the  two  priests,  as  it  really  meant  nothing  but 
death  to  the  whole  party.  The  little  craft  with  such  a  load 
would  certainly  founder  somewhere  in  the  150  leagues 
it  would  have  to  travel  before  meeting  a  French  ship.  It  must 
not  have  helped  La  Saussaye's  popularity  with  the  French- 

36 


PETER  BIARD. 

men  when  it  was  told  that  he  had  accepted  the  proposal.  Had 
they  all  gone  down  in  the  sea,  of  course,  it  would  have  been 
so  much  less  trouble  for  Argall,  but  he  did  not  insist  and 
then  offered  to  transport  all  the  artizans  to  Virginia,  prom- 
ising at  the  same  time  to  send  them  back  to  France  after 
one  year. 

Some  of  the  men  accepted  the  ofifer  and  even  de  la  Motte, 
to  whom  Argall  had  taken  a  fancy  on  account  of  his  gallant 
conduct  in  the  fight  consented  to  go  also  and  was  joined 
later  by  Captain  Flory. 

Thus  fourteen  were  left  for  the  shallop,  and  Masse,  at 
their  request,  joined  them.  Biard  and  Quentin  sailed  away 
with  Argall  expecting  to  be  landed  on  the  Island  of  Pencoit 
as  had  been  promised ;  but  to  their  consternation  they  were 
carried  down  to  Virginia.  They  were  assured,  however, 
that  there  was  no  danger  to  be  apprehended,  that  Dale,  the 
Governor,  was  very  fond  of  the  French,  having  served  in 
the  armies  of  Henry  IV  and  was  actually  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  pension  from  the  French  Government. 

It  is  hard  to  reconcile  this  shameless  falsehood  with 
Biard's  continued  characterization  of  Argall  as  a  gentleman. 
Still  a  man  may  be  a  polite  liar.  Dale  indeed  had  been  a 
soldier  under  Henry  IV,  but  he  was  a  Calvinist  and  enter- 
tained an  intense  hatred  of  everything  Catholic ;  so  much 
so  that  when  the  captives  arrived  he  determined  to  hang 
every  one  of  them :  "  We  all  expected,"  says  Biard,  "  to 
mount  ignominiously  by  a  ladder  and  to  descend  very  wretch- 
edly by  a  rope."  But  Argall  stood  by  them.  Dale,  how- 
ever, persisted,  until  at  last  the  theft  of  the  papers  had  to 
be  admitted.  The  prisoners  were  evidently  French  sub- 
jects, and  there  could  be  no  question  of  putting  them  to 
death.  A  few  days  afterwards  the  assurance  was  given  that 
the  gallows  would  not  be  called  into  requisition. 

A  council  was  called  and  it  was  decided  to  send  Argall 
back  to  Acadia,  with  orders  to  destroy  every  French  settle- 
ment on  the  coast ;  to  seize  whatever  vessel  he  might  find, 

37 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  to  hang  La  Saussaye  and  any  of  his  men  if  they  had 
persisted  in  remaining  in  those  parts.  They  clearly  over- 
rated the  bravery  of  La  Saussaye.  That  hero  never  re- 
turned to  America.  Moreover,  all  the  prisoners  were  to 
reembark  with  Argall  and  to  be  landed  at  any  place  he  chose. 
He  therefore  set  out  with  three  vessels.  But  not  all  of  the 
Frenchmen  went  with  him.  Probably  most  of  them  had 
enough  of  the  sea.  On  Argall's  ship  was  Captain  Flory 
with  four  men,  while  the  two  Jesuits  were  assigned  to  Ar- 
gall's lieutenant,  Turnel. 

They  directed  their  course  towards  St.  Sauveur  where 
they  expected  to  find  La  Saussaye,  but  he  was  already  safe 
in  France.  They  burned  all  the  defences  and  houses,  and 
threw  down  the  cross,  but  erected  another  one  in  its  stead 
with  the  escutcheon  of  the  King  of  England  on  it  to  declare 
that  he  w^as  henceforth  and  had  always  been  the  true  master 
of  the  territory.  To  vary  the  programme  they  hanged  one 
of  their  own  men  for  mutiny,  choosing  for  the  execution 
the  spot  where  they  had  thrown  down  the  cross. 

From  St.  Sauveur  they  made  for  the  Island  of  Ste.  Croix, 
and  there  Biard  fell  into  disfavor  with  Argall.  He  refused 
to  act  as  pilot.  The  captain  was  furious,  and  the  priest  came 
near  sharing  the  fate  of  the  mutinous  sailor.  But  by  help 
of  the  charts  which  had  been  found  at  St.  Sauveur,  Ste. 
Croix  was  discovered.  The  houses  were  burned ;  and  every 
mark  of  French  ownership  of  the  island  was  obliterated. 

The  next  objective  point  was  Port  Royal.  After  his  ex- 
perience with  Biard,  Argall  concluded  not  to  ask  any 
Frenchman  to  guide  him  into  that  dangerous  harbor;  so 
he  scoured  the  country  till  he  found  a  Sagamo  who  knew 
the  rocks  and  shoals.  They  entered  in  full  moonlight,  and 
if  the  French  even  then  had  been  on  the  lookout  they  could 
have  defended  themselves  or  at  least  decamped  with  their 
belongings,  especially  as  for  ten  or  eleven  hours  the  tide 
prevented  a  landing.  But  when  the  English  finally  did  go 
ashore,  they  found  no  one  in  the  fort.     The  invaders  were 

38 


PETER   BIARD. 

surprised  at  the  negligence  manifested,  and  also  at  the 
amount  of  booty  which  a  short  search  revealed. 

The  capture  of  the  colony  nearly  cost  Father  Biard  his 
life.  Having  lost  so  much  time  in  finding  the  place  and  in 
hunting  for  a  pilot,  Turnel  wanted  to  return  to  Virginia, 
alleging  the  dangers  of  the  place  and  the  advancement  of 
the  season,  for  it  was  then  near  the  end  of  October. 
Besides  he  had  heard  from  Biard  that  he  could  get  nothing 
there  except  hatred,  for  the  colony  was  in  a  miserable  con- 
dition. But  when  Argall,  the  chief  of  the  expedition  dis- 
covered the  place  without  difficulty,  and  moreover  captured 
considerable  booty  in  provisions,  clothes,  tools,  etc.,  he  not 
only  reproached  Turnel  with  putting  trust  in  the  Jesuit, 
but  allowed  him  a  very  small  part  of  the  plunder.  The  lieu- 
tenant was  furious,  for  he  always  had  the  reputation  of 
being  clever,  and  he  now  found  himself  in  disgrace.  To  help 
his  ill  feeling  the  sailing-master  of  Argall's  ship,  who  was 
an  English  Puritan,  and  a  deadly  enemy  of  the  Jesuits, 
though  outwardly  very  suave  and  discreet,  advised  Turnel 
to  put  Biard  ashore,  on  the  plea  that  it  was  not  proper  that 
he  should  be  supported  on  the  provisions  which  he  had 
endeavored  to  prevent  the  English  from  obtaining. 

The  usual  Jesuitical  virtue  of  sincerity  saved  Biard  from 
this  fate.  Twice  he  threw  himself  on  his  knees  before 
Argall  to  intercede  for  the  colonists.  The  captain  believed 
that  he  meant  what  he  said,  though  at  the  very  moment  a 
Frenchman  who  had  just  arrived  from  the  woods  was  howl- 
ing curses  against  the  priest  and  demanding  his  death. 
As  Argall  had  not  consented  to  the  proposal  of  the  Puri- 
tan, neither  did  he  hang  the  Jesuit  to  oblige  the  Catholic, 
nor  did  he  change  his  attitude  when  something  worse  oc- 
cured.  Just  as  the  ships  were  ready  to  depart  and  were 
waiting  for  the  tide,  one  of  the  colonists  came  out  with  a 
document  signed  by  five  or  six  of  his  compatriots  in  which 
Biard  was  accused  of  being  a  traitor,  a  Spaniard,  a  fugitive 
from  justice  for  crimes  committed  in  Europe,  as  having 

39 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

led  a  scandalous  life  in  Port  Royal,  etc.,  etc.,  but  Argall 
dismissed  the  Frenchman  with  a  smile.  In  any  case,  he 
had  given  his  word  to  bring  Biard  back  to  Virginia,  where, 
he  said  to  himself,  he  was  sure  to  be  hanged  as  soon  as 
the  Governor  heard  of  the  refusal  to  guide  the  ships  to  the 
different  settlements.  So  having  secured  everything  he 
could  lay  hands  on,  even  to  nails  and  locks,  he  sailed  away 
when  the  wind  was  favorable  after  having  set  fire  to  the 
settlement.  "  Would  to  God,"  writes  Biard,  "  that  the 
fire  could  have  destroyed  all  the  sin  that  had  been  com- 
mitted in  that  place." 

It  was  on  the  19th  of  November,  1613,  when  the  three 
ships  turned  their  prows  towards  Virginia.  The  two  priests 
were  on  Turnel's  ship,  and  that  elegant  pirate,  who  could 
speak  four  or  five  languages,  Latin  among  others,  was  now 
thoroughly  convinced  that  Biard  was  a  thorough  going 
scoundrel,  only  fit  to  be  strung  up  at  the  yard  arm.  He 
was  particularly  incensed  because  he  had  formerly  admired 
and  liked  him ;  but  the  damning  testimony  of  the  paper 
presented  by  the  colonists  was  before  his  eyes,  and  he  felt 
like  a  man  whose  confidence  had  been  abused.  He  was 
angry  also  at  finding  out  that  his  prisoner  was  a  Spaniard, 
masquerading  as  a  Frenchman.  Hatred  of  Spain  was  an 
article  of  the  Englishman's  creed,  for  the  invincible  Ar- 
mada was  still  remembered,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  Biard 
not  only  had  not  a  drop  of  Spanish  blood  in  his  veins, 
but  had  never  even  set  foot  in  Spain.  On  the  second  day 
out,  a  storm  separated  the  three  vessels.  The  barque  was 
wrecked,  and  the  six  Englishmen  in  it  perished,  whereas 
Argall  reached  Virginia  inside  of  a  month.  Dale  received 
him  with  pleasure,  and  joyously  awaited  the  arrival  of 
Biard,  to  whom  he  proposed  "  to  show  the  end  of  the 
world  from  the  middle  of  a  ladder,"  but  Almighty  God 
willed  otherwise. 

Turnel's  ship  was  driven  before  the  gale  for  sixteen 
consecutive  days,  and  all  hope  of  reaching  Virginia  was 

40 


PETER  BIARD. 

abandoned.  Meantime  the  provisions  were  giving  out, 
and  the  horses  on  board  were  using  up  and  fouHng  all  the 
water ;  every  sail  was  tattered  and  torn ;  the  rigging  was  in 
shreds.  But  suddenly  fine  weather  came  and  the  reckon- 
ing showed  they  were  scarcely  twenty-five  leagues  from 
port,  which  was  the  last  thing  the  prisoners  wanted. 
So  they  redoubled  their  prayers  and  apparently  God  heard 
them,  for  a  furious  southeaster  arose  right  ahead  of  them. 
The  ship  was  put  about;  every  sail  was  reefed,  and  Biard 
tells  us  "  the  men  then  thought  only  of  their  consciences." 
There  was  no  help  for  it.  The  gale  was  too  furious  to 
do  anything  but  go  before  it,  and  the  Captain  made  up  his 
mind  the  best  he  could  do  was  to  reach  the  Azores  seven 
hundred  leagues  away.  He  slaughtered  the  horses  to  get 
something  to  eat,  and  also  to  save  the  small  amount  of 
water  they  had  left.  Captors  and  captives  both  enjoyed 
the  horse  flesh. 

As  the  sailors  all  grew  prayerful  during  this  hurricane, 
Turnel  called  Father  Biard  to  his  cabin  and  said :  "  I  see 
that  God  is  angry  with  us,  but  not  on  your  account.  We 
went  to  war  without  making  any  previous  declaration, 
which,  of  course,  was  not  right.  But  it  was  against  my 
advice  and  my  liking.  I  had  to  obey.  I  repeat,  God  is 
angry  against  us  but  not  against  you,  although  you  are  the 
occasion  of  it."  "  However,"  he  resumed,  "  it  is  very 
strange  that  your  countrymen  should  have  spoken  as  they 
did  about  you."  "  Did  you  ever  hear  me  speak  ill  of 
them?"  asked  Biard.  "Never;  on  the  contrary,  at  the 
very  time  they  were  reviling  you,  I  noticed  that  you  always 
defended  them.  I  am  willing  to  testify  to  that."  "  Who, 
then.  Captain,  is  likely  to  tell  the  truth  on  his  side;  the 
charitable  man  or  the  calumniator?"  '*  The  charitable 
man,  no  doubt,"  said  Turnel,  "  but  candidly,  did  not  your 
charity  prompt  you  to  lie  to  me,  when  you  said  we  should 
find  nothing  but  misery  at  Port  Royal?"  "  Pardon  me," 
replied  Biard,  "  you  will  remember  that  I  did  not  express 

41 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

myself  in  those  words,  but  said  that  when  I  was  there  I 
found  nothing  but  misery  in  the  place."  "True;  you 
did,"  admitted  the  other,  "  and  everything  would  be  clear 
except  for  the  fact  that  you  are  a  Spaniard,  and  you  are 
not  so  much  trying  to  benefit  the  French  as  to  do  harm  to 
the  English."  Biard  endeavored  to  remove  the  impression, 
but  in  vain ;  for  Turnel  could  not  understand  how  five  or 
or  six  Frenchmen  who  were  facing  death  could  have 
consented  to  sign  a  false  accusation  against  one  of  their 
own  countrymen  and  a  priest,  with  no  other  purpose  than 
to  have  him  hanged  to  satisfy  their  hatred. 

After  a  while  they  came  in  sight  of  the  Azores,  but  it 
did  not  add  to  the  happiness  of  Turnel  or  the  crew.  It 
was  Portuguese  territory,  and  the  presence  of  two  captive 
priests  in  an  English  vessel  would  mean  the  gallows  or  the 
galleys  for  all  concerned.  An  easy  solution  of  the  difficulty 
would  have  been  to  drop  the  troublesome  Jesuits  overboard, 
but  the  grace  of  God  was  working  in  the  heart  of  Turnel, 
and  if  the  suggestion  ever  presented  itself  it  was  rejected. 
The  two  prisoners  agreed  to  keep  out  of  sight,  if  the  vessel 
was  searched. 

It  was  decided  to  remain  outside  of  the  harbor  and  to 
send  in  a  boat  for  supplies,  in  order  to  obviate  any  very 
exhaustive  investigation  by  the  Port  Warden,  but  luck  was 
against  them,  and  they  were  compelled  to  enter  the  port. 
In  doing  so  they  unfortunately  fouled  a  Spanish  ship  and 
tore  off  its  bowsprit.  The  haughty  Don  in  command  re- 
garded the  accident  as  intentional,  and  only  a  disguised 
attempt  at  robbery;  having  had  the  same  mischance  with 
a  French  vessel  in  the  same  port  five  weeks  before.  His 
men  sprang  to  arms  and  there  was  imminent  danger  of  a 
fight.  The  city  was  in  consternation  as  were  the  sailors  in 
the  port,  but  the  trouble  ended  by  Turnel  going  ashore, 
and  remaining  there  in  custody  of  the  authorities,  who 
now  regarded  him  as  a  pirate.  Meantime,  the  vessel  was 
searched  again  and  again,  and  the  Jesuits  had  to  play  hide 

43 


PETER   BIARD. 

and  seek  in  every  hole  and  corner,  from  the  cock-pit  to 
the  hold,  in  constant  terror  of  being  discovered.  The 
Spaniards  came  aboard  in  their  turn,  and  again  the  game 
of  concealment  had  to  be  repeated.  It  was  hard  work  and 
at  one  time  they  found  themselves  behind  a  boat,  holding 
their  breath  and  not  daring  to  move  hand  or  foot  till  the 
visitors  withdrew.  The  crew  was  pale  with  fear,  but  the 
priests  wanted  to  convince  them  that  the  prevalent  idea 
about  Catholics  not  being  obliged  to  keep  faith  with  heretics 
was  a  calumny,  and  they  succeeded.  Had  an  accident, 
however,  occurred,  and  had  they  been  discovered,  of  course 
it  would  have  been  regarded  as  intentional.  But  nothing 
happened,  and  when  at  last  after  three  weeks  detention 
the  vessel  drew  out  of  the  port,  the  grateful  Englishmen 
hugged  and  kissed  these  two  woe-begone  Jesuits  with  en- 
thusiasm. At  this  distance  of  time  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand why  such  a  difficult  process  had  to  be  resorted  to  in 
order  to  conceal  their  identity.  It  would  have  been  a 
simple  matter  to  have  taken  off  their  cassocks  and  to  pass 
as  part  of  the  crew.  But  there  was  a  sort  of  superstition 
prevalent  just  then  of  never  going  without  the  habit.  Later 
on  we  shall  see  Lalemant  standing  in  his  cassock  on  the 
deck  of  a  vessel  that  was  being  battered  against  the  rocks, 
and  then  complaining  that  his  feet  got  entangled  in  it 
when  he  was  in  the  water.  Biard  boasted  that  he  wore 
his  soutane  during  the  nine  months  of  his  captivity. 

Turnel's  troubles  were  not  yet  over.  It  was  impossible 
to  get  back  to  Virginia,  both  because  he  had  no  provisions, 
and  because  it  was  already  the  year  1614,  when  the 
sailors'  term  of  service  was  drawing  to  a  close ;  so  he  headed 
for  England.  He  tried  to  get  into  the  English  Channel 
but  was  driven  first  into  Milford  Haven,  which  Biard  spells 
"  Milfer,"  and  then  into  the  port  of  Pembroke  in  Wales. 
There  the  unexpected  happened.  His  ship  was  French, 
for  it  was  Mme.  de  Guercheville's,  and  he  had  no  papers. 
Argall  had  them  in  Virginia.     The  consequence  was  that 

43 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

he  and  his  men  were  regarded  as  pirates,  and  were  going 
to  be  hanged.  There  was  only  one  way  to  save  them^ 
selves.  They  brought  the  two  Jesuits  ashore  to  tell  the 
sceptical  judges  the  whole  story  of  their  American  ad- 
ventures. That  saved  the  day,  and  from  pirates  they 
became  patriots,  while  the  Jesuits  were  regarded  as  public 
benefactors. 

The  summons  to  go  ashore  was  very  fortunate,  for  Biard 
and  his  companion  would  have  died  of  cold  and  starvation 
if  they  had  been  compellel  to  pass  the  four  weeks  they 
spent  at  Pembroke  in  the  hold  of  the  vessel.  It  was  Tur- 
nel's  intention  to  leave  them  there,  for  a  priest's  life  was 
not  worth  much  in  England  at  that  time ;  but  as  their  tes- 
timony had  saved  so  many  honest  Britons  from  the  gallows, 
the  Judge,  who  was  a  fort  honneste  ct  grave  personnage 
inquired  how  they  were  lodged  in  the  ship.  When  their 
condition  was  explained,  he  made  arrangements  to  in- 
stall them  in  the  house  of  the  Mayor,  saying  that  it  would 
be  a  shame  not  to  treat  such  distinguished  and  learned  men 
with  courtesy.  Biard  takes  care  to  hand  down  to  pos- 
terity the  name  of  this  observant  old  gentleman.  It  was 
Nicholas  Adams. 

Ministers,  lawyers,  gentlemen,  and  others,  called  on  them 
and  a  noble  Lord  of  the  Council  arranged  for  a  controversy 
with  four  eminent  ministers.  "  I  call  them  ministers,"  says 
Biard,  "  but  in  England  they  are  called  '  priests.'  "  "  Our 
chief  antagonist  was  an  archdeacon,  for  the  English  re- 
tain much  of  the  old  ecclesiastical  nomenclature.  They  have 
their  archbishops,  bishops,  priests,  curates,  canons,  etc. 
They  insist  on  the  imposition  of  hands  for  the  priesthood; 
have  minor  orders,  confirmation,  the  chrism  and  all  the 
ceremonies,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  holy  images,  festivals  of 
saints,  lent,  abstinence  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays,  priestly 
vestments,  sacred  vessels,  etc.  The  Scotch  and  French 
Calvinists  who  condemn  all  these  practices  as  damnable 
superstitions  and  inventions  of  the  devil  are  called  Puritans 

44 


PETER   BIARD. 

by  the  English  and  are  heartily  detested."  Finally  a  de- 
cision arrived  from  London.  It  was  favorable,  and  the 
captives  found  out  that  it  was  a  piece  of  good  fortune  to 
have  been  driven  into  a  Welsh  port,  for  had  they  landed  in 
another  part  of  Great  Britain,  the  Virginia  Company  would, 
if  possible,  have  prevented  them  from  getting  back  to  their 
native  country,  as  was  attempted  to  be  done  in  the  case 
of  Captain  de  la  Motte  a  short  time  after. 

The  two  Jesuits  finally  left  England.  By  royal  com- 
mand they  were  brought  in  a  roundabout  way  to  Sandwich, 
or  Saiiduicts,  as  Biard  writes  it,  from  there  to  Dover  and 
from  Dover  to  Calais.  They  had  been  nine  months  in  the 
hands  of  the  English.  The  Governor  of  Calais,  the  Sieur 
d'Arquien,  and  M.  La  Baulaye,  the  dean,  received  them 
kindly  and  gave  them  money  enough  to  reach  Amiens. 

In  France  they  found  themselves  the  center  of  another 
storm.  They  were  accused  of  having  been  the  authors  of 
all  the  misfortunes  that  had  befallen  Acadia;  they  had  led 
the  English  thither;  fomented  dissensions  among  the 
French;  induced  Mme.  du  Guercheville  to  abandon  Port 
Royal,  and  establish  St.  Sauveur ;  and  out  of  personal  spite 
had  compromised  the  interests  of  both  religion  and  the 
crown.  Potrincourt  lodged  a  formal  complaint  to  that 
effect  with  the  Government,  and  his  friend  Lescarbot  was 
particularly  active  in  influencing  the  public  mind  by  his 
*'  Derniere  Relation  de  I'Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France." 

To  exculpate  himself  from  the  charges  of  Lescarbot, 
who  was  regarded  then  as  a  very  judicious  historian,  and 
supplied  with  exact  information,  but  who  is  discredited  by 
modern  waiters,  Biard  wrote  his  statement  of  the  case. 
Champlain,  though  angry  not  only  with  Mme.  de  Guerche- 
ville for  directing  her  benefactions  to  Mt.  Desert  instead 
of  Quebec,  but  also  with  Father  Coton  for  advising  her, 
came  to  Biard's  assistance  and  declared  that  the  Jesuits 
always  acted  according  to  the  strictest  equity ;  were  actuated 
by  the  loftiest  spiritual   motives  and  guided  by  common 

45 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

sense.  In  fact,  the  first  chapter  of  his  Third  Book  is  a 
resume  of  Biard's  "  Relation."  His  estimate  of  the  Jesuits 
at  Port  Royal  and  St.  Sauveur  is  more  than  complimentary. 

Thus  the  first  attempt  at  evangelizing  Acadia  ended  in 
disastrous  failure.  The  political  fortunes  of  the  colony 
were  worse.  For  although  young  Biencourt  built  up  Port 
Royal  after  Argall's  departure,  it  was  only  to  give  a  field 
for  the  long  fratricidal  struggle  between  de  la  Tour,  Aulnay 
and  others  who  fought  for  mastery  in  the  unhappy  country 
although  they  were  at  the  very  same  time  harassed  by 
repeated  incursions  of  the  English  from  Massachusetts.  At 
one  time  two  Franciscan  friars  were  said  to  have  beeii  on 
a  vessel  which  came  over  to  sustain  the  cause  of  de  la  Tour, 
but  what  they  did  after  reaching  Port  Royal  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing.  That  was  in  the  year  1642,  nearly 
forty  years  after  the  original  settlement.  When  the  Eng- 
lish came  into  possession  of  the  country,  both  missionary 
work  and  political  rivalry  had  come  to  an  end. 

What  became  of  Biard?  When  he  returned  to  France 
he  again  taught  theology;  then  we  find  him  famous  as  a 
missionary  and  finally  as  a  military  chaplain.  In  1635, 
his  old  companion,  Masse,  started  with  de  Brebeuf  for  work 
among  the  Canadian  Indians.  Biard  would  naturally  have 
joined  them,  but  he  had  died  at  Avignon,  three  years  before, 
shattered  and  broken  by  his  long  life  of  apostolic  labor. 


46 


ENEMOND  MASSE 


ENEMOND  MASSE. 

As  you  journey  up  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Quebec,  the 
first  object  that  attracts  your  attention  after  you  have 
satisfied  yourself  with  looking  back  at  the  medieval  city 
on  the  Rock,  is  a  bold  headland  on  which  a  graceful  church 
stands  far  out  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  and  high  above  the 
river.  Higher  still  but  much  farther  back  in  the  land  is 
a  splendid  conventual  establishment  half  hidden  in  the 
surrounding  woods;  while  on  either  side,  cluster  the  white 
and  well  kept  houses  of  the  "  habitants."  It  is  Sillery,  and, 
singularly  enough,  the  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Columba, 
which  would  naturally  suggest  that  there  are  affectionate 
memories  of  Green  Erin  lingering  in  the  neighborhood. 
Indeed,  if  you  strayed  into  the  church  on  a  Sunday  or  holi- 
day, you  might  hear  a  sermon  in  either  French  or  English, 
for  the  children  of  the  Celt  and  the  Gaul  both  kneel  around 
that  altar  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

If  you  climb  the  cliff  above  the  point  where  the  little 
steamer  lands,  and  stand  where  the  solitary  cannon  looks 
peacefully  over  the  waters,  you  have  a  scene  before  you  that 
is  not  only  a  delight  to  the  eye,  but  a  comfort  to  the  heart  for 
the  multitude  of  romantic  and  religious  memories  that  crowd 
upon  you.  Opposite  you  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  is  the 
Cote  de  Lauson,  the  one-time  domain  of  the  old  seigneur 
whose  name  occurs  repeatedly  in  Canadian  history.  Near 
by,  the  boiling  Chaudiere  tumbles  into  the  St.  Lawrence ; 
and  lofty  Pointe  Levis  presents  itself  with  its  crown  of 
convents  and  colleges  and  churches.  Cape  Tourmente  is  a 
dozen  leagues  away  to  the  east,  and  quite  close  to  3'ou  is 
Cape  Diamond,  with  a  forest  of  masts  at  its  feet,  and  on  its 
summit  the  citadel  and  the  historic  Plains  of  Abraham. 
Between  you  and  it  is  the  fairy-like  cove  where  Wolfe  made 
the  fatal  ascent  in  1759. 

49 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

If  you  wander  down  the  slope  to  the  lowlands  near  the 
river,  you  will  come  after  a  little  space  to  an  ancient  dwell- 
ing which  has  stood  the  storms  of  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  Canadian  winters,  but  which  shows  no  marks  of  age. 
Indeed,  you  would  take  it  for  a  house  of  one  of  the  well- 
to-do  people  of  the  neighborhood ;  yet  it  is  perhaps  the 
oldest  structure  in  Canada  for  it  was  built  in  1G37.  But 
it  has  more  than  antiquity  to  commend  it.  It  is  all  that  is 
left  of  the  famous  establishment  founded  by  the  Chevalier 
Noel  Brulard  de  Sillery,  a  Knight  of  Malta,  who  after 
achieving  fame  in  the  world  became  a  priest.  He  was  a 
friend  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  and  spent  a  large  fortune 
in  good  works,  among  which  was  this  training  school  on 
the  St.  Lawrence  where  it  was  hoped  that  the  savages 
might  be  taught  agriculture  and  the  mechanical  arts,  and 
be  thus  brought  from  the  forest  into  the  ways  of  civilization. 
In  former  times  a  church  stood  near  it,  but  after  many  years 
it  was  demolished,  and  the  oldest  inhabitants  will  still  tell 
you  what  a  marvelous  piece  of  masonry  it  was.  There, 
too,  the  first  Hotel  Dieu  of  Canada  was  built,  but  the  nuns 
left  it  and  fled  in  terror  to  Quebec,  when  one  day  an  Indian 
runner  came  into  the  settlement  carrying  a  letter  written  on 
a  piece  of  birch  bark.  It  was  from  Father  Bressani  who 
had  fixed  it  to  a  tree  as  he  was  being  carried  into  captivity 
by  the  Mohawks.  It  conveyed  the  startling  intelligence 
that  the  savages  were  going  to  descend  on  the  hospital  and 
carry  off  the  nuns.  A  sign  at  the  roadside  to-day  shows 
where  it  once  stood. 

All  these  buildings  except  the  residence  were  virtually 
abandoned  after  the  English  conquest,  but  though  the 
structures  are  gone,  the  memories  still  remain  of  the 
saints  who  labored  there.  De  Brebeuf  had  lived  in  that 
house  after  his  wanderings  among  the  Neutrals  along 
Lake  Erie.  Menard  was  the  hospital  chaplain ;  and  indeed 
most  of  the  great  martyrs  of  the  northwest  had  offered 
Mass  in  the  chapel,  or  instructed  the  neophytes,   or  had 

50 


MASsi',   MoxuMK.x  r    AT   sii,i.i:m- 


ENEMOND  MASSE. 

come  to  bid  good-bye  to  their  friends  before  going  forth 
to  die.  So  that  apart  from  the  historical  interest  with 
which  the  locahty  is  invested,  Sillery  may  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  sacred  places  of  Canada.  All  this  would  prob- 
ably be  unknown  to  the  ordinary  traveller,  but  were  he  to 
pass  by  the  old  residence  he  would  see  in  front  of  it,  though 
on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  and  nearer  the  river,  a  monu- 
ment surmounted  by  a  cross.  On  a  marble  slab  set  in  its 
base,  he  would  read  an  inscription  in  French,  telling  him 
that  "  the  inhabitants  of  Sillery  have  erected  this  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  Father  Enemond  Masse,  S.J.,  the 
first  missionary  of  Canada,  who  was  buried  in  1646  in  the 
church  of  St.  Michael,  which  was  attached  to  Residence 
of  St.  Joseph  of  Sillery." 

This  monument  was  the  result  of  the  labors  of  two 
pious  and  painstaking  historiographers,  the  Abbes  Casgrain 
and  Laverdiere  who,  in  1869,  caused  excavations  to  be 
made  in  the  ruins  of  the  old  church  and  succeeded  in  un- 
covering all  the  foundations.  They  found  it  to  be  a  struc- 
ture of  100  by  37  feet  (French  measure),  and  to  have 
been  built  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  with  a  hexagonal  apse. 
Its  facade  was  towards  the  river;  and  in  the  lateral  chapel 
on  the  gospel  side,  they  came  upon  Father  Masse's  remains. 
There  could  be  no  possible  doubt  about  their  identity,  for 
he  was  the  only  one  that  was  ever  buried  there.  The 
*'  Journal  des  Jesuites  "  informs  us  that  the  chapel  was  not 
yet  complete  when  the  interment  took  place. 

The  people  of  Sillery  were  naturally  jubilant  over  this 
discovery,  and  in  response  to  an  appeal  made  haste  to 
erect  the  shaft.  The  corner  stone  was  laid  with  great 
ceremony  in  1870,  and  it  was  noted  that  many,  not  of  the 
faith,  were  reverential  spectators.  The  inscription  is  sig- 
nificant, for  it  calls  Masse  "  the  first  missionary  of  Can- 
ada," although  two  or  three  other  priests  had  preceded  him 
in  Acadia  and  Canada.  He  was  born  in  Lyons,  in  1574 
or  1575.     There  is  some  uncertainty,  however,  about  the 

51 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

date,  just  as  there  is  about  his  name,  which  is  sometimes 
written  without  the  accent.  Thus  it  appears  in  Biard's 
"Relation"  and  in  Charlevoix's  and  Champlain's  works; 
but  as  Creuxius  in  his  "  Historia  Canadensis  "  calls  him 
Massseus,  as  do  the  Catalogues  of  the  Society,  we  are  safe 
in  writing  it  Masse  and  not  Masse,  though  there  is  another 
difficulty  in  the  fact  that  when  he  was  Father  Coton's 
associate  at  Court,  he  signed  himself  de  Masso,  and  com- 
plicated the  problem  still  more  by  prefixing  to  it  Imbertus, 
which  he  discarded  afterwards  for  Enemondus. 

He  entered  the  Society  on  August  25,  1595,  when  he 
was  twenty  years  old.  He  is  said  to  have  been  naturally 
of  a  somewhat  turbulent  disposition,  but  in  the  novitiate 
he  succeeded  so  well  in  keeping  himself  under  control  that 
he  passed  for  having  no  temper  at  all.  At  first  there  was 
some  difficulty  about  admitting  him,  because  of  his  weak 
eyes,  but  he  swept  away  that  obstacle  by  falling  on  his 
knees  and  praying  so  fervently  that  his  sight  became  per- 
fect immediately.  Although  he  studied  philosophy  before 
becoming  a  Jesuit,  he  followed  the  abbreviated  course  of 
theology  in  the  Society.  He  was  ordained  priest  in  1603, 
and  for  the  five  following  years  filled  the  posts  of  minister 
and  procurator  in  various  houses.  He  was  then  sent  as 
Socius  to  Father  Coton,  who  was  court  preacher  and  con- 
fessor of  Henry  IV. 

He  must  have  been  a  man  of  good  manners  to  have  been 
assigned  to  such  a  place ;  but  it  was  doubtless  extremely 
distasteful  to  one  who  had  been  accustomed  from  youth 
to  daily  fasts,  flagellations,  and  all  sorts  of  penitential  exer- 
cises. Even  then  he  was  like  a  Father  of  the  Desert  in 
austerity.  Besides,  he  had  always  been  almost  inordinately 
fond  of  self  abasement,  and  when  a  novice  it  is  said  of 
him  that  while  making  the  usual  novitiate  pilgrimage,  he 
was  so  grieved  at  being  hospitably  received  by  a  good 
natured  priest,  that  he  began  to  pray  for  a  change  of  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  his  host.     The  result  was  that  he 

53 


ENEMOND  MASSE. 

and  his  companion  were  unceremoniously  thrown  out  of 
doors.  Whether  the  other  novice  was  consulted  before 
this  prayer  was  offered  we  do  not  know ;  nor  is  it  certain 
that  the  good  cure  was  fairly  treated. 

While  he  was  at  court  there  was  a  call  for  missionaries 
in  the  new  colony  of  Acadia.  At  his  request  he  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  work.  That  was  in  1G08;  but  it  was  not 
until  January  26,  1611,  that  he  and  Biard  set  sail  on  The 
Grace  of  God  for  America.  The  reasons  of  this  long  delay 
have  been  already  given  in  the  previous  biography.  The 
journey  was  perilous  and  hard,  for  "  traveling  in  such  a 
small  boat  and  so  badly  equipped,"  wrote  Biard,  "  is  an 
accumulation  of  all  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  life." 
Strong  as  he  was,  Father  Masse  never  left  his  bed  for  forty 
days,  but  though  deathly  sick  and  eating  almost  nothing 
he  was  anxious  to  keep  Lent,  which  could  scarcely  be 
allowed  in  such  conditions.  His  request,  however,  reveals 
his  spiritual  temper.  They  arrived  on  the  22d  of  May, 
and  three  weeks  afterwards  they  wrote  to  Father  Aquaviva ; 
Biard  at  length,  Masse  briefly  as  follows: — 

"  Very  Rev.  Father, 
"  Pax  Christi. 

"  If  your  Paternity  read  with  pleasure  my  letter  of  Oc- 
tober 13th,  I  had  still  greater  happiness  in  receiving  yours 
of  the  7th  of  December,  the  more  so  as  I  am  the  first  one 
of  the  Society  to  receive  a  letter  in  Canada  from  your 
Paternity.  I  regard  that  as  a  happy  augury,  and  as  a 
heavenly  incentive  to  run  my  course  with  fervor  so  as  to 
merit  and  receive  the  reward  of  the  celestial  vocation, 
and  to  sacrifice  myself  more  promptly  and  more  completely 
for  the  salvation  of  this  people.  I  avow  to  you  that  I  have 
said  frankly  to  God,  Behold  me!  If  Thou  choosest  what  is 
weakest  and  most  miserable  in  the  world  to  overthrow  and 
destroy  what  is  strong,  Thou  shalt  find  all  this  in  Ene- 
mond.     Lo !  here  I  am ;  send  me  and  make  my  words  and 

53 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTPI  AMERICA. 

my  tongue  speak  so  that  I  shall  not  be  a  barbarian  for  those 
who  hear  me.' 

"  Your  prayers  I  am  sure  will  avail  for  me  in  this  as 
they  did  for  our  coming-  here  on  Pentecost  Day.  We  are 
feeble  in  Jesus  Christ,  but  we  shall  live,  I  hope,  in  him,  in 
the  strength  of  God. 

I  beg  your  Paternity  to  obtain  by  your  prayers  and  holy 
sacrifices  that  the  Lord  may  accomplish  all  this  in  us. 
"  Your  unworthy  son  in  Jesus  Christ, 

"  Enemond  Masse,  S.J. 
"  Port  Royal  in  New  France, 
"  June  10,  1611." 

Together  the  two  missionaries  passed  the  dreary  and  un- 
fruitful years  of  their  work  in  Acadia.  Both  underwent 
the  same  hardships,  but  a  differentiating  note  between  the 
two  men  reveals  itself  occasionally.  Thus,  to  learn  the  lan- 
guage. Masse  took  the  quickest  though  hardest  method. 
He  went  off  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John  and  lived  with 
the  Indians.  But  in  doing  so  he  misjudged  his  powers  of 
endurance.  Accustomed  to  hardships  though  he  was,  the 
life  was  too  much  for  his  strength.  Pie  fell  sick,  and 
became  almost  blind  because  of  the  ansemic  state  to  which 
he  was  reduced.  But  his  strength  of  will  sustained  him  and 
perhaps,  also,  his  good  humor.  For  when  apparently  at 
the  point  of  death,  the  Indian  who  had  built  him  another 
cabin  to  die  in,  asked  him  to  write  a  letter  to  the  Com- 
mandant at  Port  Royal  to  explain  the  situation;  otherwise 
the  savages  would  be  accused  of  murdering  him,  Masse 
refused.  "  If  I  do  that,"  he  said,  "  somebody  might  kill 
me  and  would  then  go  off  to  Port  Royal  with  my  certificate 
of  acquittal  in  his  hands."  "  Well  then,"  said  the  Indian, 
"  pray  to  Jesus  to  cure  you."  "  I  am  doing  so,"  replied  the 
priest,  "  and  I  am  not  going  to  die."  In  spite  of  the  hor- 
rible privations  to  which  he  was  subject  he  recovered,  and 
after  a  while  started  for  the  colony.     Just  as  Biard  was 

54 


ENEMOND   AlASSE. 

returning  from  an  unsuccessful  hunt  along  the  coast  in 
search  of  him,  for  he  had  not  been  heard  of  for  four 
months,  Masse  arrived,  happy  to  have  suffered  a  good  deal 
and  to  have  at  least  helped  some  dying  people  and  babies 
to  go  to  heaven. 

Winter  came  and  with  it  starvation.  The  colonists  lost 
what  little  energy  they  possessed,  possibly  because  they  were 
unfitted  for  the  work,  or  possibly  because  their  physical 
strength  was  gone,  though  they  were  a  shiftless  lot  at  best, 
and  contented  themselves  with  passing  their  time  mostly 
in  their  huts,  lounging  about  the  fire.  To  Masse  this  sloth 
was  intolerable,  and  he  determined  to  build  a  boat  and  go 
out  and  hunt  for  food.  He  knew  nothing  at  all  of  the 
trade  of  ship-building,  but  he  was  a  handy  man  with  tools, 
and  he  set  to  work.  He  could  induce  only  one  man  to  help 
him.  The  rest  looked  on  and  laughed  at  his  clumsy  efforts ; 
but  little  by  little  the  craft  took  shape,  and  was  sufficiently 
calked  with  shreds  of  cordage,  soaked  with  the  gum  which 
he  scraped  from  the  trees,  and  was  finally  launched  and 
succeeded  in  keeping  afloat.  Biard,  of  course,  toiled  with 
him,  though  he  good  humioredly  wrote :  "  I  could  only  give 
the  boat  my  benediction."  Such  was  only  one  of  the  many 
instances  of  the  lack  of  energy  and  initiative  that  character- 
ized those  Acadian  colonists  who  had  come  out  to  found 
an  empire.  They  were  sitting  idly  on  the  sea  shore  without 
a  boat  in  which  to  go  out  on  the  water  except  perhaps  some 
wretched  canoe  which  they  had  bought  from  the  Indians. 
They  were  starving,  though  there  was  plenty  of  game  in 
the  woods  if  they  would  only  hunt  for  it. 

The  two  missionaries  embarked  in  their  miserable  craft 
and  went  up  and  down  the  shore  in  search  of  food.  They 
soon  returned  not  only  with  a  plentiful  supply  of  roots  and 
acorns,  but  with  an  abundance  of  fish  which  there  was  no 
difficulty  in  catching.  Their  boat-load  was  welcome,  for 
there  was  not  a  morsel  of  food  left  in  the  colony's  store- 
house.    Finally  La  Saussaye  arrived  with  orders  for  the 

55  • 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

priests  to  leave,  so  bidding  farewell  to  Port  Royal  they 
sailed  across  the  bay  to  Mt.  Desert.  The  issue  of  that  ill- 
fated  expedition  we  know.  Both  Masse  and  Biard  did  their 
best  to  restrain  the  English  marauders  in  the  havoc  that 
they  were  making  of  the  colony,  and  with  some  measure  of 
success.  They  were  courteously  treated  by  Argall,  and  it 
was  their  protest,  as  we  have  seen,  that  prevented  him  from 
putting  all  the  Frenchmen  in  an  open  boat  and  turning  them 
adrift  on  the  high  seas,  to  go  to  what  was  certain  death. 
Instead  of  thirty,  fourteen  Frenchmen  were  stowed  away 
in  a  miserable  old  shallop,  and  the  rest  were  carried  off  to 
Virginia. 

Before  starting  out  the  crew  asked  for  one  of  the  priests 
to  go  with  them,  and  when  Argall  inquired  which  one  they 
wanted  they  all  clamored  for  Masse;  an  evident  sign  of 
his  popularity  as  against  that  of  his  companion.  On  that 
day  he  and  Biard  bade  good-bye  to  each  other,  not  knowing 
if  they  should  ever  meet  again.  The  shallop  sailed  away, 
with  the  commander.  La  Saussaye,  as  one  of  the  company. 
Unfortunately  there  were  only  two  or  three  sailors  in  the 
boat,  and  they  knew  nothing  of  the  coast  and  had  neither 
chart  nor  compass.  But  a  kind  Providence  was  watching 
over  them.  Just  before  Argall  had  reached  St.  Sauveur, 
La  Saussaye's  pilot  had  started  out  to  discover  the  character 
of  the  ship  that  was  making  for  the  harbor.  By  the  time 
he  had  made  out  the  English  flag  on  the  peak  it  was  too 
late  to  return,  so  he  and  his  men  steered  their  boat  to  the 
shore,  and  kept  in  concealment  until  the  fight  was  over. 
Argall  was  aware  of  their  absence  and  lingered  a  long  time 
after  the  capture  of  the  colony  to  lay  hands  on  them,  but 
without  avail,  though  from  time  to  time  the  pilot  himself 
appeared  among  his  friends  disguised  as  an  Indian.  Just 
as  the  shallop  was  leaving  the  harbor,  an  Indian  was  seen 
signalling  to  them.  It  was  the  pilot  and  they  received  him 
on  board  with  delight. 

They  steered  in  a  northerly  direction,  and  first  reached 

56 


ENEMOND  MASSE. 

the  Grand  Menan.  They  had  intended  to  start  thence  for 
Long  Island,  over  what  was  a  perilous  stretch  of  ten  leagues 
of  open  sea,  just  where  the  tide  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  rushes 
furiously  in  to  the  land.  But  the  weather  was  too  bad  to 
attempt  it  for  nine  successive  days,  and  they  spent  that 
time  praying  fervently  for  a  clear  sky.  It  came  at  last 
and  they  made  Long  Island  in  safety,  where  they  erected 
a  cross  in  thanksgiving,  celebrated  Mass,  and  went  in  proces- 
sion along  the  shore.  That  stopping  place  was  at  the  end 
of  St.  Mary's  Bay,  below  the  present  Digby.  They  found 
there  a  supply  of  salt,  and  to  add  to  their  good  luck  they 
succeeded  in  making  a  fine  haul  of  fish  for  which  the  salt 
came  in  very  handy.  It  is  distressing  to  find  that  after  their 
arrival  in  France,  Potrincourt  appealed  to  the  courts  against 
the  Jesuits  who  robbed  him  of  the  salt  which  he  had  left 
on  that  desolate  island.  Thus  with  plenty  of  fish  in  their 
locker  they  continued  on  their  way,  and  landed  at  Cape 
Forchu.  They  had  already  travelled  well  down  the  coast 
of  Nova  Scotia,  and  had  reached  the  place  where  now  stands 
the  present  town  of  Yarmouth.  They  had  avoided  going 
into  Port  Royal,  for  very  likely  they  would  have  been 
seized  and  imprisoned  by  Biencourt. 

At  Cape  Forchu  they  met  Louis  Membertou,  the  Indian, 
in  whose  wigwam  Masse  had  spent  four  hard  months  en- 
deavoring to  learn  the  native  language.  The  welcome  was 
very  cordial  and  the  priest  was  invited  to  leave  his  white 
friends  and  go  ofT  with  the  red  men.  There  were  many 
reasons  why  the  offer  could  not  be  accepted,  one  of  which 
was  that  Biencourt  was  too  close  at  hand ;  another,  which 
was  more  than  sufficient,  viz :  the  Frenchmen  might  be 
wrecked  before  they  found  a  ship  and  would  sorely  need  a 
priest.  In  spite  of  the  refusal,  however,  Membertou  gave 
them  a  feast  and  furnished  them  also  with  a  plentiful  supply 
of  moose  which  kept  them  alive  till  they  doubled  Cape 
Sable.  Keeping  along  the  coast  they  arrived  at  Port 
Mouton,  where  some  more  Indians  came  out  to  meet  them. 

57 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

They  had  just  been  trading  with  the  whites  and  had  a  supply 
of  bread  which  they  shared  with  the  wanderers.  With 
wonderful  liberality  they  gave  a  loaf  to  the  priest,  says  the 
"  Relation,"  and  half  a  one  to  each  of  the  others.  "  It  was 
the  world  upside  down.  Indians  giving  bread  to  the 
French  and  getting  nothing  in  return.  The  bread  was  like 
manna  for  us,  because  three  weeks  had  elapsed  since  we 
had  tasted  a  crumb.  To  add  to  our  joy  they  told  us  that 
there  were  two  French  vessels  not  far  away,  one  at  Seza- 
more  and  the  other  at  Passapec.  We  bade  our  Indian 
friends  good-bye  and  hurried  as  fast  as  we  could  so  as  not 
to  miss  the  ships."  The  distance  nevertheless  was  consider- 
able, for  though  Sezamore  and  Passepec  are  no  longer  on 
the  maps,  we  find  on  Charlevoix's  chart  two  places  called 
Sincembre  and  Prospec,  which  doubtless  are  the  same  as 
the  present  Sambro  and  Prospect  not  far  from  the  present 
Halifax. 

The  wanderers  found  the  ships;  one  of  them  only  fifty 
tons  burden;  but  the  other  twice  as  large.  It  was  called 
The  Savior.  The  smaller  one  was  in  command  of  Du 
Pont  the  young  Frenchman  who  a  few  years  before  had 
taken  to  the  wild  life  of  the  woods  to  escape  the  vengeance 
of  Potrincourt,  and  had  been  finally  reconciled  to  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  colony  by  the  entreaties  of  Biard  and  Masse. 
Du  Font's  vessel  started  out  first  and  had  a  rough  passage 
of  it  all  the  way  over.  The  Saznor  did  not  leave  America 
until  twelve  days  later,  but  though  it  encountered  heavy 
seas,  it  overtook  its  companion  and  they  both  entered  the 
harbor  of  St.  Malo  together.  Good  weather  had  come  to 
them  when  twin  St.  Elmo  fires  appeared  in  the  rigging. 
For  the  sailors  it  was  the  harbinger  of  a  calm.  A  quarter 
of  an  hour  passed  and  the  sky  was  clear. 

The  failure  in  Acadia  was  of  course  a  disaster,  but  in 
one  respect  it  may  be  regarded  as  providential,  inasmuch 
as  it  drove  Masse  back  to  France,  and  made  him  virtually 
the  creator  of  a  greater  enterprise :  the  Missions  of  Canada. 

58 


ENEMOND  MASSE 

The  year  after  his  arrival  he  was  appointed  Vice  Rector 
of  the  Royal  College  of  La  Fleche,  and  thus  was  thrown 
into  intimate  association  with  a  number  of  men  whose  names 
as  we  read  them  on  the  college  register  seem  like  a  muster 
roll  of  Canada's  most  illustrious  heroes.  Paul  Le  Jeune 
was  there  and  Bartholomew  Vimont,  and  Anne  de  Noue, 
and  Charles  Lalemant,  and  Francis  Ragueneau,  and  Isaac 
Jogues,  and  Rene  Menard  with  others  whose  names  we 
omit.  When  these  future  apostles  gathered  around  Masse, 
and  listened  to  his  stories  of  the  western  world  their  imag- 
inations took  fire,  and  they  were  all  eager  to  emulate  his 
example.  He,  of  course,  fanned  the  flame,  and  possibly 
he  did  so  even  when  he  did  not  speak,  for  splendid  though 
his  position  was  at  La  Fleche  and  implying  in  its  incumbent 
unusual  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  he  was  pining  away 
for  his  savages,  and  there  was  no  happier  man  in  the  world 
than  he  when  the  word  came  that  he  was  to  resume  his 
interrupted  work. 

How  that  result  was  brought  about  is  revealed  by  a 
document  found  among  his  posthumous  papers.  It  is  given 
in  the  "  Relation  "  of  1646.  It  begins  with  a  rhapsody 
about  "  mon  cher  Canada  which  is  so  lovable  and  adorable 
in  its  crosses  and  whose  conversion  can  only  be  undertaken 
by  those  who  have  on  them  the  stigmata  of  the  cross.  To 
obtain  the  needed  qualification  it  will  be  helpful  for  me," 
he  writes,  "  to  keep  the  following  resolutions : 

1st.  Never  to  sleep  except  on  bare  ground,  without  sheets 
or  mattress,  which,  however,  must  be  kept  in  the  room  so 
that  no  one  may  know  what  is  being  done. 

2d.  Not  to  wear  linen  except  around  the  neck. 

3d.  Never  to  say  Mass  without  a  hair-shirt,  in  order  to 
make  me  think  of  the  sufferings  of  my  Master  of  which 
the  Holy  Sacrifice  is  the  great  memorial. 

4th.  To  take  the  discipline  daily. 

5th.  Never  to  take  dinner  unless  I  have  first  made  my 
examen,  and  if  prevented  to  eat  only  a  dessert. 

59 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

6th.   Never  to  gratify  my  taste. 

7th.  To  fast  three  times  a  week,  but  so  that  no  one  will 
know  it." 

The  eighth  is  to  punish  any  uncharitable  word  that  might 
escape  his  lips.  Those  lips,  were  made  to  pay  a  penalty 
which  we  prefer  to  omit. 

As  some  of  the  members  of  the  La  Fleche  community 
were  at  the  end  of  the  year  transferred  to  Clermont  in  Paris, 
they  interested  in  the  Canadian  Missions  the  famous  Bre- 
tesche,  who  was  the  Spiritual  Father  of  the  house.  He  hap- 
pened to  be  at  that  time  the  confessor  of  the  Duke  de  Ven- 
tadour,  and  it  was  he  who  urged  that  dignitary  to  have 
himself  appointed  Viceroy  of  New  France  so  as  to  check 
the  Calvinist  traders  of  Quebec,  who  were  opposed  to  the 
conversion  of  the  Indians.  While  negotiations  were  pend- 
ing, Bretesche  died,  and  Father  Noyrot  became  the  noble- 
man's counsellor.  Just  when  Ventadour  was  named,  the 
Recollects  asked  the  Jesuits  for  help.  The  response  was 
immediate,  and  on  June  19th,  16:35,  Masse,  de  Brebeuf, 
de  None  and  Charles  Lalemant  set  out  for  Canada. 

It  was  Masse  who  built  the  first  Jesuit  residence  in  Can- 
ada :  Notre  Dame  des  Anges,  and  when  Lalemant  had  to 
return  to  France  he  was  left  in  charge  of  the  mission ;  an 
office  intended  only  to  last  for  two  or  three  months,  but  which 
lengthened  out  into  two  or  three  years.  During  that  time 
disasters  began  to  multiply.  Kirke  had  sailed  up  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  city.  De  Brebeuf 
was  recalled  from  the  mission  among  the  Hurons,  and  in 
1629  the  French  flag  was  hauled  down  from  the  citadel, 
and  Recollects,  Jesuits,  and  nearly  all  the  colonists  went 
back  to  France.     It  was  Masse's  second  failure. 

He  was  sent  to  La  Fleche  where  he  had  been  five  years 
before.  Although  it  seemed  hoping  for  the  impossible,  he 
again  resumed  his  appeals  for  the  American  missions.  As 
before,  he  enkindled  an  enthusiasm  in  all  the  Jesuit  houses, 
and  spread  it  outside  to  such  an  extent  that  religious  com- 

60 


ENEMOND  MASSE. 

munities  offered  their  good  works  and  watched  all  night 
praying  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  that  the  work  of 
evangelizing  the  Indians  might  in  some  way  or  other  begin 
again.  At  last,  after  many  a  diplomatic  delay  Canada  was 
given  back  to  France,  and  in  1633  Masse  again  stood  on  the 
vessel  at  the  side  of  de  Brebeuf,  and  on  the  8th  of  June, 
after  a  tempestuous  passage,  landed  with  Champlain  at 
Quebec. 

He  was  then  nearly  sixty  years  of  age.  As  he  was,  more- 
over, exhausted  by  his  life  of  penance  and  hardship  he 
could  not  be  sent  to  the  Hurons,  but  the  Montagnais  along 
the  river  were  the  objects  of  his  solicitude;  and  also 
on  account  of  his  skill  in  mechanical  works  the  construc- 
tion of  various  buildings  was  entrusted  to  him.  He 
repaired  Notre  Dame  des  Anges,  which  the  English  had 
almost  wrecked ;  he  supervised  the  erection  of  the  college 
at  Quebec,  and  also  the  hospital,  residence,  and  church  at 
Sillery. 

These  material  occupations,  however,  did  not  interfere 
with  his  being  the  favorite  confessor  of  the  colonists  up 
to  the  last  year  of  his  life.  It  was  then  that  he  was  inscribed 
in  the  catalogue  as  sencx,  an  old  man  who  had  ceased  from 
his  labors.  That  was  in  1645,  and  he  had  reached  the  age 
of  seventy-one.  The  end  had  come  and  he  went  over  to 
Sillery  where  on  May  12,  1646,  he  breathed  his  last.  "  He 
was  a  man  of  many  trades,"  says  Ragueneau,  "  but  in  none 
so  skilful  as  in  that  of  saving  souls." 


61 


JOHN  DE  BREBEUF 


o 

oi 
D 


CHAPTER  I 
Early   Life. 

John  de  Brebeuf  has  not  been  canonized  by  the  Church, 
but  he  is  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  all  those  who  know  his 
tragic  story.  For  them  he  is  a  hero,  a  saint  and  a  martyr. 
In  Canada  especially,  the  cult  is  positive  and  pronounced. 
There  is  a  niche  awaiting  his  statue  in  the  splendid  fagade 
of  the  Government  buildings  at  Quebec,  and  his  name  sur- 
rounded with  the  laurels  of  victory  is  inscribed  in  letters 
of  gold  on  the  grand  staircase  leading  to  the  Legislative 
Chambers.  At  the  Hotel  Dieu,  the  nuns  are  busy,  at  cer- 
tain seasons,  showing  tourists  the  precious  reliquary  in 
which  they  guard  the  remains  of  the  great  missionary,  and 
they  will  tell  you,  if  you  ask  them,  that  the  16th  of  March, 
the  anniversary  of  his  death,  has,  ever  since  1650,  been  a 
Communion  day  in  the  convent. 

A  street  is  named  after  him  in  Montreal,  and  a  splendid 
painting  on  the  walls  of  the  cathedral  depicts  his  martyr- 
dom. But  perhaps  the  most  notable  tribute  is  recorded  by 
the  author  of  the  "  History  of  the  Early  Missions  of  Can- 
ada," who  tells  us  that  he  saw  in  the  Ritualist  Church  of 
St.  Martin's,  Brighton,  England,  "  a  figured  window  to  the 
memory  of  Father  de  Brebeuf,"  in  which  he  appears  in 
his  priestly  robes  with  an  aureola  upon  his  head.  At  his 
feet  is  a  miniature  map  of  Huronia.  Such  a  representation, 
of  course,  would  not  be  permitted  in  a  Catholic  Church 
prior  to  an  official  pronouncement  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff 
on  the  heroicity  of  his  life  and  the  reason  of  his  death ; 
but  the  error  goes  to  show  the  extent  of  the  veneration 
paid  him.  There  is  a  sort  of  a  compromise  picture  in  the 
splendid  church  of  Our  Lady,  in  Guelph,  Ontario,  where  a 
great  illuminated   window   in   the   transept   represents   the 

65 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

saints  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  In  the  foreground  stand 
de  Brebeuf,  Lalemant,  and  Jogues.  All  the  others  have 
illuminated  halos ;  whereas  there  is  only  a  black  circle 
over  the  heads  of  the  American  heroes.  They  are  waiting 
for  their  glorification. 

One  is  not  surprised  to  hear  that  there  were  crusaders 
among  de  Brebeuf's  forbears.  Indeed,  it  would  r.ot  be 
hard  to  conceive  the  hero  himself  in  complete  armor  scaling 
the  walls  of  Damietta  where  his  ancestors  distinguished 
themselves  under  the  banner  of  St.  Louis.  That  would  have 
been  a  trifle  for  such  as  he.  It  is  also  claimed  that  some  of 
his  kin  went  over  to  England  with  William  the  Conqueror 
and  not  only  fought  in  the  battle  of  Hastings,  but  were 
allied  to  the  Howards  and  Arundels,  whose  names  are  iden- 
tified wath  English  Catholicity.  Guillaume  du  Hamel, 
Aimwnier  et  Consciller  du  Roi  who  wrote  a  dissertation  on 
La  Pharsale,  a  poem  by  a  grandnephew  of  the  martyr,  is 
the  authority  for  the  assertion.  Both  Boileau  and  Voltaire 
condemned  the  poem  as  being  of  slight  literary  value,  but 
left  unchallenged  the  claim  of  the  author's  illustrious 
descent. 

Naturally  one  would  desire  to  admit  the  kinship,  but  it 
requires  a  great  deal  of  good  will  to  trace  a  family  con- 
nection between  de  Brebeuf  and  the  Howards  and  Arundels 
of  to-day.  It  is  true  that  in  the  Battle  Abbey  List  of  the 
Norman  Knights  who  came  over  with  William  the  Con- 
queror, which  is  given  by  Augustin  Thierry  in  his  "  Con- 
quete  de  I'Angleterre,"  in  the  "  Pieces  Justificatives  "  at 
the  end  of  Volume  I-II,  the  name  of  Braybuf  occurs.  There 
are  also  an  CEil  de  Boeuf,  and  a  Front  de  Boeuf, — the 
latter  being  probably  Walter  Scott's  unpleasant  hero — and 
a  host  of  others  with  names  so  whimsical  that  even  the 
French  chroniclers  of  those  days  had  great  sport  with  them. 
In  the  same  catalogue  there  is  found  the  name  of  Arundel, 
and  in  one  by  Leland,  taken  from  the  "  Collectanea  de  rebus 
britannicis,"  (ed.  Hearne  Vol.  I,  p.  206),  is  that  of  How- 

60 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

arde,  which  may  perhaps  suggest  a  doubt  about  the  Saxon 
origin  of  that  family,  but  how  the  de  Brebeufs  were  united 
with  the  Arundels,  and  yet  had  their  name  so  completely 
eliminated  in  succeeding  generations  we  must  leave  to  gene- 
alogical experts  to  determine. 

As  for  the  Howard  element  in  the  puzzle  we  are  dispensed 
from  following  it,  until  nearly  four  hundred  years  after 
the  conquest.  From  Thierry  and  Lingard  and  other  author- 
ities it  appears  that  the  first  holder  of  the  title  of  Norfolk 
was  Raulf  de  Gael,  a  Breton,  who,  though  the  chief  insti- 
gator of  the  invasion,  cjuarrelled  with  William  and  was 
relieved  of  his  honors  which  then  passed  over  to  Bigot. 
Under  Edward  I,  the  title  reverted  to  the  Crown,  and  was 
conferred  on  the  king's  son,  Thomas  Plantagenet  de 
Brotherton.  Finally  in  default  of  heirs,  John  Howard, 
who  was  descended  from  de  Brotherton  by  the  mother's 
side,  was  made  Duke  of  Norfolk  by  Richard  HI,  whose 
cause  he  espoused,  and  with  whom  he  subsequently  fell  on 
Bosworth  field. 

Hence  the  blood  of  de  Brebeuf  must  be  extremely  atten- 
uated, if  there  is  any  at  all  in  the  Howard  family.  But  he 
did  not  need  the  connection  to  add  to  his  glory.  Indeed, 
while  he  was  working  for  the  Church  in  America,  the 
descendants  of  his  Norman  ancestors  were  doing  their  best 
to  extirpate  the  Faith  in  England.  The  Jesuit  Garnet  had 
just  been  dragged  to  the  gallows  as  the  result  of  the  Gun- 
Powder  Plot ;  Buckingham  had  rallied  the  Puritans  of  Eng- 
land to  the  rescue  of  the  Protestant  Normans  of  France; 
Archbishop  Laud  had  formulated  laws  "  against  all  priests 
and  harborers  of  priests,  as  well  as  against  all  persons  who 
had  papistical  books  or  were  suspected  of  having  them 
present  at  Mass;"  and  four  years  after  de  Brebeuf  was 
slain  in  Huronia,  Oliver  Cromwell,  as  Lingard  tells  us, 
"  was  eager  to  gain  the  goodwill  of  the  godly  by  shedding 
the  blood  of  the  priests."  Thus  had  history  turned  a  somer- 
sault, and  de  Brebeuf  might  have  gained  martyrdom  by 

67 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

simply  crossing  the  Channel  instead  of  the  Ocean;  but 
America  needed  a  saint. 

About  his  early  life  very  little  is  known.  Even  the  place 
of  his  birth  was  for  a  long  time  a  subject  of  dispute.  Fel- 
ler, Pluquet,  and  the  "  Missions  Catholiques "  of  1877, 
basing  their  conclusions  on  the  "  Relation  "  of  1649,  pro- 
nounced for  Bayeux,  while  Father  Martin  and  some  others 
ventured  to  surmise  that  it  was  Conde-sur-Vire.  A  bap- 
tismal record  would  have  settled  the  question,  but  a  labor- 
ious search  in  the  archives  of  the  Department,  resulted  in 
showing  that  the  registers  did  not  go  farther  back  than  the 
last  years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  quest  was  about 
to  be  abandoned  when  the  "  Primus  Catalogus  Provincise 
Franciae,"  1618-19  was  discovered  which  established  the 
claim  of  Conde-sur-Vire.  As  this  "  Catalogus  Primus  ''  is 
the  list  which  the  individual  members  of  the  Society  fill  out 
every  three  years  for  transmission  to  Rome,  its  authority 
is  beyond  question.  In  it  we  find,  in  de  Brebeuf's  own  hand- 
writing :  "  Pater  Joannes  de  Brebeuf,  natus  Condsei,  25 
Mars  1593,  in  dioec.  Baioc."  The  abbreviation  "  dioec. 
Baioc,"  means  the  diocese  of  Bayeux,  and  the  only  Conde 
in  that  district  is  Conde-sur-Vire.  It  is  a  difficult  place  to 
find  on  the  map,  for  it  is  only  a  village  or  commune  of  about 
3,000  souls,  but  it  is  situated  in  the  Department  of  La 
Manche,  about  five  miles  from  St.  L6.  De  Brebeuf  as  far 
as  we  know  gave  it  the  only  distinction  it  ever  enjoyed, 
but  that  is  sufficient  to  glorify  a  much  larger  place. 

What  he  did,  or  where  he  was,  prior  to  his  becoming  a 
Jesuit  is  yet  to  be  discovered.  We  know  that  he  had 
already  made  a  two  years  course  of  literature,  and  had 
studied  philosophy  for  the  same  period,  but  whether  or  not 
it  was  a  preparation  for  the  priesthood  must  be  left  to 
conjecture.  At  all  events  he  bade  good-bye  to  the  world 
and  presented  himself  at  the  Novitiate  of  Rouen,  November 
8,  1617.  He  was  then  twenty-four  years  of  age.  This 
Novitiate  was  the  second  which  the  Society  had  established 

68 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

in  France,  and  it  nearly  missed  going  there,  which  would 
have  been  regrettable,  for  Rouen  gave  many  a  glorious 
man  to  the  Order.  Besides,  as  it  was  a  stronghold  of  Cal- 
vinism, it  needed  all  the  orthodoxy  it  could  get  to  strengthen 
its  faith. 

The  story  of  its  foundation  is  that  one  day  Henry  IV 
conversing  with  Father  Coton,  grew  enthusiastic  about  the 
great  number  of  Jesuit  Colleges  he  was  going  to  establish 
all  over  France.  Coton,  however,  cooled  his  ardor  by  rep- 
resenting to  him  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  profes- 
sors to  supply  them  all.  "  What  can  we  do  to  get  them?  " 
said  the  King.  "  Found  Novitiates,"  was  the  reply.  *'  So 
far,  we  have  only  one  in  France  and  that  is  in  Aquitaine, 
which  is  very  remote  from  the  centre  of  the  kingdom." 
"  Why  can  we  not  have  one  at  La  Fleche?"  inquired  the 
monarch,  "  in  connection  with  the  college  we  are  building 
there?  "  The  proposition  was  acceded  to,  but  as  the  funds 
were  already  giving  out  even  for  the  college  at  La  Fleche, 
it  looked  as  if  the  scheme  for  a  Novitiate  would  be  delayed 
indefinitely.  Meantime,  without  being  aware  of  what  was 
in  prospect,  the  Countess  d'Aubigny  and  several  of  her 
friends  proposed  to  the  king  to  establish  a  house  at  Rouen  ; 
the  foundress  giving  10,000  livres  for  the  purchase  of  the 
house  and  600  for  an  annual  revenue;  the  others  contribu- 
ting according  to  their  resources.  The  proposition  was 
gladly  accepted,  and  in  1604  the  Novitiate  of  Rouen  was 
founded.  It  was  only  thirteen  years  in  existence  when  de 
Brebeuf  arrived  at  its  gates. 

One  naturally  inquires  if  he  met  there  any  of  the  men 
who  became  afterwards  conspicuous  in  the  work  of  the 
American  missions.  A  search  through  the  old  catalogues 
shows  us  that  he  was  too  late  and  too  early  to  have  that 
happiness.  Vimont,  his  future  superior  at  Quebec,  had  been 
there  four  years  before,  and  Buteux,  the  martyr  of  the 
St.  Maurice,  came  the  year  after  de  Brebeuf  had  been  as- 
signed to  college  work.     Raymbault,  the  first  Jesuit  to  die 

69 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

in  Canada,  also  arrived  later,  as  did  Daniel,  who  was  to  be 
a  martyr  a  year  before  de  Brebeuf.  Jogues  did  not  enter 
till  seven  years  later.  In  the  noviceship,  de  Brebeuf,  of 
course,  stood  for  the  rigor  of  the  law  in  its  application  to 
himself.  "  I  will  be  ground  to  powder,"  he  used  to  say, 
"  rather  than  break  a  rule."  His  self-effacement,  which 
was  also  one  of  his  characteristics  till  the  end,  likewise 
declared  itself  in  the  Novitiate.  He  not  only  sought  the 
most  humiliating  tasks,  but  entreated  his  superiors  to  let 
him  become  a  lay-brother.  He  urged  the  request  again 
when  about  to  pronounce  his  vows,  and  the  proposition  was 
duly  considered,  but  a  negative  answer  was  given.  This 
wise  decision  was  a  blessing  for  the  Church,  and  ensured 
a  great  future. 

At  the  end  of  his  noviceship  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
twenty-six,  and  was  consequently  too  old  for  the  review 
of  the  classics,  and  he  was  therefore  sent  to  the  college  in 
the  same  city,  and  given  a  class  of  low^er  grammar.  But  the 
difficult  student  youth  proved  too  much  for  him.  He  col- 
lapsed completely  after  two  years,  and  in  the  catalogue  of 
1622  we  find  this  ominous  entry :  "  F.  dc  Brebeuf  oh  in- 
Urinavi  valetudincni  non  occupatits;  "  nothing  to  do  on  ac- 
count of  ill  health.  He  was  then  twenty-eight  years  of 
age,  and  it  looked  as  if  he  had  been  right  in  his  aspirations 
to  be  a  lay  brother.  But  he  did  not  lose  heart.  He  re- 
viewed his  moral  theology  privately,  passed  his  examina- 
tions and  was  ordained  a  priest.  Of  dogmatic  theology 
this  great  apostle  does  not  seem  to  have  studied  a  single 
chapter,  at  least  in  the  Society.  Still  he  knew  enough  to 
solve  the  difficulties  of  the  sorcerers  and  the  sachems  who 
sat  around  him  at  the  council  fires  near  Lake  Huron. 

He  was  ordained  sub-deacon  at  Lisieux  in  the  month  of 
September,  1621,  deacon  in  the  same  year  at  Bayeux,  and 
priest  the  year  following  at  Pontoise  or  Pontisaroe,  as  the 
Latin  has  it.  The  date  of  his  priesthood  however  is  dis- 
puted.    Father  Martin  said  he  was  ordained  on  the  anni- 

70 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUR 

versary  of  his  birth,  March  25,  1623.  But  there  are  two 
great  difficulties  about  accepting  that  date;  first — we  have 
in  de  Brebeuf's  own  handwriting  "  die  Virginis  Annuntiatcu 
primum  sacrum  Deo  ohtiili,"  that  is,  he  said  his  first  Mass 
on  the  day  of  the  Annunciation,  which  of  course  is  not  the 
same  as  ordination.  Second — Unless  the  calendars  are  all 
astray,  March  25,  1623  was  Good  Friday,  which  would 
make  both  his  ordination  and  first  Mass  impossible.  The 
mistake  was  apparently  caused  by  taking  the  date  of  his 
ordination  from  the  catalogue  of  1623,  and  not  adverting 
to  what  Father  Martin  knew  as  well  as  any  one  else,  that  it 
recorded  the  arrangements  of  the  previous  year.  Now  in  the 
catalogue  of  1623,  de  Brebeuf  is  inscribed  as  a  priest,  and 
therefore  must  have  been  ordained  in  1622.  All  this  may 
look  like  too  minute  an  inquiry  into  details,  but  dates  are 
precious  things  in  history,  and  ordination  to  the  priesthood 
was  of  course  the  most  important  event  in  the  life  of  an 
apostle. 

As  for  the  places  identified  with  him,  Conde-sur-Vire  is, 
as  we  have  said,  only  a  village,  and  all  we  can  know  is  that 
he  was  most  likely  baptized  in  the  parish  church.  There 
could  have  been  only  one  there,  but  whether  or  not  it  still 
exists  we  are  unable  to  say.  It  is  also  difficult  to  obtain 
much  information  about  the  novitiate  and  College  of  Rouen, 
for  after  the  suppression  of  the  Society  the  novitiate  be- 
came a  Bureau  de  Mendicite,  an  alms  house  office,  and  sub- 
sequently a  prison  and  a  barracks.  New  streets  have  been 
cut  through  the  grounds  so  that  identification  would  be  well 
nigh  impossible.  As  for  the  college,  it  was  appropriated 
by  the  Government  and  is  now  a  Lycee  with  1000  students. 
Lisieux,  where  he  was  ordained  subdeacon,  is  in  the  valley 
of  the  Orbec  and  Touques.  In  de  Brebeuf's  time  it  was 
an  episcopal  town,  and  there  was  annexed  to  the  cathedral 
a  Lady  Chapel,  built  as  an  expiatory  offering  by  a  former 
bishop,  who  is  known  to  history  as  Pierre  Cauchon,  one 
of  the  Judges  who  condemned  Joan  of  Arc.     Perhaps  de 

71 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Brebeuf  was  ordained  there  and  had  a  premonition  of  his 
own  death  at  the  stake.  But  of  course  that  is  only  fancy. 
The  Bayeux  cathedral  where  he  probably  received  deacon- 
ship  is,  of  course,  known  to  the  tourist,  but  Pontoise,  where 
he  was  ordained  a  priest  is  a  puzzle.  It  had  no  cathedral, 
for  Pontoise  was  in  the  Diocese  of  Bayeux,  and  we  ask 
in  vain  did  the  great  event  take  place  in  the  beautiful  St. 
Maclou,  or  the  collegiate  church,  or  possibly  in  some  little 
out  of  the  way  chapel  in  one  of  the  steep  and  narrow 
streets  of  the  town?  In  any  case  one  would  like  to  know 
what  brought  him  down  there  for  ordination  ?  We  have  no 
information  on  that  point,  and  must  satisfy  ourselves  by 
blaming  the  carelessness  of  the  chronicler.  However,  no 
one  could  have  foretold  that  the  levite  kneeling  in  his  white 
robes  at  the  altar  in  obscure  Pontoise  would  later  on  wear 
the  red  robes  of  a  martyr.  His  elevation  to  the  priesthood 
coincided  with,  if  it  did  not  bring  about  his  complete  restora- 
tion to  health.  He  was  not  asked  to  go  back  to  the  class 
room,  but  was  made  procurator  or  bursar  of  the  college; 
an  occupation  which  threw  him  ofificially  into  the  midst 
of  the  first  of  the  storms  that  swept  over  his  life. 

An  unworthy  priest  of  a  little  place  near  Dieppe,  who 
had  been  condemned  to  be  broken  on  the  wheel  for  his 
crimes,  devised  a  plan  while  in  prison  to  distract  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public  and  to  save  himself  from  death.  He  ac- 
cused the  Jesuits  of  plotting  the  assassination  of  King  Louis 
XIII.  As  Henry  IV  had  been  murdered  a  few  years  be- 
fore, and  as  the  Jesuits  had  been  charged  with  the  crime, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Henry  was  their  greatest  bene- 
factor, and  that  they  had  everything  to  lose  by  his  death, 
the  new  accusation  was  seriously  considered,  and  the  country 
was  thrown  into  a  great  state  of  excitement  about  it.  The 
Huguenots  took  it  up,  and  the  sky  looked  very  dark  for 
the  Society.  The  Parliament  at  Rouen  whose  enmity  had 
never  been  concealed,  officially  entertained  the  charge,  im- 
prisoned Father  Chappuis,  the  Superior  of  the  Residence,  as 

70 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

well  as  Father  Guyot  and  a  lay-brother  who  were  supposed 
to  be  the  chief  conspirators. 

De  Brebeuf  was  hurried  off  to  Paris  to  advise  the  Pro- 
vincial of  the  situation.  As  Father  Coton  had  been  the 
confessor  of  Henry  IV,  and  still  exercised  great  influence 
at  the  court,  he  betook  himself  immediately  to  the  King 
and  had  the  case  transferred  to  the  royal  tribunal.  The 
accusation  was  examined  and  dismissed ;  and  the  unfor- 
tunate priest  confessed  that  he  had  trumped  up  the  charge 
to  save  himself.  This  was  de  Brebeuf's  first  opportunity 
to  observe  at  close  range  the  difficulties  he  was  to  encounter 
at  the  other  end  of  the  world.  The  Huguenots  who  were 
trying  their  best  to  rule  or  ruin  the  mother  country  were 
doing  the  same  in  its  American  colony. 

Champlain  had  founded  Quebec  in  1608,  and  from  that 
time  until  Kirke  drove  him  out,  the  Calvinist  merchants 
who  had  absorbed  the  entire  trade  of  the  new  possessions 
caused  more  trouble  than  all  the  savages  from  Gaspe  to 
Lake  Huron.  The  story  is  one  of  the  commonplaces  of 
history,  for  it  is  known  how  after  the  failure  of  the  Acadian 
project,  Champlain  induced  Prince  Henri  de  Bourbon  to 
finance  the  new  enterprise  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  how  a 
company  was  founded  of  which  Champlain  was  to  be  in 
absolute  control.  But  the  Prince  died  before  his  plans  were 
perfected,  and  the  new  organization  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  famous  Conde  who  reorganized  it,  but  very  unwisely 
withdrew  from  Champlain  the  controlling  interest,  making 
him  only  an  ordinary  member,  and  giving  shares  to  any  of 
the  merchants  of  Rouen,  Havre,  St.  Malo  and  La  Rochelle 
who  might  desire  to  embark  in  the  enterprise.  It  was  stip- 
ulated that  only  the  Catholic  religion  should  be  allowed  in 
Canada,  and  that  the  missions  to  the  natives  should  be  sub- 
sidized by  the  traders.  As  most  of  them  were  Calvinists, 
the  result  might  have  been  anticipated.  It  was  either  an 
amazing  trust  in  human  nature,  or  a  cynical  unconcern  about 
the  religious  welfare  of  the  aborigines. 


73 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Champlain  informs  us  that  in  1G08,  he  asked  the  Jesuits 
to  accept  the  task  of  evangehzing  Canada,  but  that  they 
refused.  They  did  not  care  to  deHver  themselves  up  into 
the  hands  of  their  enemies,  and  besides  they  were  already 
struggling  with  the  problem  of  Acadia.  In  1614  the  offer 
was  made  to  the  Recollects,  who  eagerly  accepted  it;  for 
was  it  not  set  down  in  the  bond  that  six  of  their  number 
were  to  be  supported  by  the  company ;  and  had  not  the  car- 
dinals and  the  bishops  of  the  States  General  handed  them 
1,500  livres  for  the  purchase  of  portable  chapels,  vest- 
ments and  the  like?  They  left  Honfleur,  April  24,  1615, 
and  on  June  25,  according  to  Ferland,  "  inaugurated  the 
Catholic  Faith  in  Canada,  when  in  their  poor  little  chapel 
the  colonists  assisted  for  the  first  time  at  the  Holy  Mass 
on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence."  The  description  is  pic- 
turesque, but  incorrect ;  for  it  implies,  of  course,  that  the 
faith  was  not  inaugurated  in  Canada,  when  Cartier's  chap- 
lain said  Mass  all  through  the  winter  of  1536,  on  the  banks 
of  the  St.  Charles,  or  when  Masse  and  Biard  built  their 
altar  at  Port  Royal  and  St.  Sauveur. 

But  that  is  only  a  trifle ;  the  missionaries  immediately 
addressed  themselves  to  the  task  of  converting  the  Indians. 
D'Olbeau  buried  himself  among  the  Montagnais,  and  Le 
Caron  journeyed  to  Georgian  Bay,  and  became  the  first 
apostle  of  the  Hurons.  But  the  friars  soon  discovered  that 
they  had  been  too  guileless  in  trusting  their  alleged  friends 
in  Quebec,  who  as  Champlain  assures  us  had  no  desire  of 
converting  the  natives  at  all.  Indeed  they  were  bitterly 
adverse  to  it,  for  it  was  a  detriment  to  business,  the  result 
being  that  when  an  Indian  ceased  to  be  a  hunter,  he  dimin- 
ished by  so  much  the  company's  revenues.  The  only  pur- 
pose the  traders  had  in  view  was  to  get  peltries,  and  hence 
not  only  were  the  savages  left  in  their  heathenism,  and  all 
attempts  to  settle  them  in  villages  discouraged,  but  nothing 
was  done  even  for  the  white  settlers,  or  the  defense  of  the 
colony.     Quebec  was  to  be  a  trading  post  and  nothing  else, 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUR 

and  hence  the  fields  were  unploughed  and  the  fort  was 
falhng  to  pieces.  Champlain  stormed  and  entreated  but 
without  avail. 

Over  and  over  again  the  Recollects  returned  to  France 
to  protest  against  the  existing  conditions.  Conde  would 
not  or  could  not  apply  a  remedy.  Indeed,  he  was  a  political 
prisoner  part  of  the  time.  Finally  he  handed  over  his  rights 
to  the  Duke  de  Montmorency,  but  the  new  incumbent  re- 
garded the  appointment  merely  as  a  source  of  revenue  with 
no  consequent  obligations.  Nevertheless  he  made  a  feeble 
effort  at  reform  and  reorganized  the  company,  but  appar- 
ently influenced  by  the  religious  indifference  of  the  time, 
he  put  at  the  head  of  it  two  Calvinists,  Guillaume  and  Emery 
de  Caen,  who  of  course  merged  the  new  concern  with  the 
old  corporation,  so  that  the  last  state  was  worse  than  the 
first.  Not  knowing  where  to  turn,  the  Recollects  bethought 
themselves  of  the  Jesuits,  who.  according  to  the  popular 
superstition,  were  supposed  to  be  possessed  of  inexhaust- 
ible revenues,  or  were  at  least  able  to  put  their  hands  in 
the  pockets  of  their  friends.  Sixteen  years  had  passed, 
and  nothing  had  been  accomplished  either  for  the  colonists 
or  the  savages,  and  so  the  Recollects,  Father  Piat  and 
Brother  Sagard,  begged  the  Jesuit  Provincial  Father  Coton 
to  undertake  the  work. 

Ever  since  the  destruction  of  St.  Sauveur  at  Mount 
Desert,  Fathers  Biard  and  Masse  had  been  keeping  alive 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  French  Jesuits  for  the  Canadian 
missions,  and  so  the  appeal  of  the  Recollects  met  a  ready 
response.  It  was  first  determined,  however,  to  get  rid  of 
the  existing  Director  of  the  Trading  Company,  and  for  that 
purpose,  de  Levis,  the  Duke  de  Ventadour,  was  induced 
to  buy  out  de  Montmorency's  interest  in  the  concern.  The 
purchase  was  made,  and  as  de  Ventadour  was  not  only  a 
man  of  fervent  piety  but  a  sort  of  lay  missionary,  he  did 
not  wait  for  the  associates  to  fulfil  their  obligations,  but 
promised  to  support  six  of  the  missionaries. 

75 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Four  Jesuits  immediately  set  out.  At  the  head  of  them 
was  Lalemant,  who  was  then  Principal  of  Interns  of  the 
College  of  Clermont,  and  who,  unlike  his  superiors,  judged 
himself  unfit  for  such  civilized  work.  With  him  were 
Enemond  Masse,  who  a  few  years  before  had  been  set 
adrift  in  an  open  boat  on  the  wild  Atlantic,  when  the 
English  destroyed  St.  Sauveur;  John  de  Brebeuf,  who  was 
to  achieve  greater  things  than  all  the  others  was  also  of 
the  company,  and  a  Jesuit  lay-brother  named  Buret.  The 
distinguished  Recollect,  of  whom  Champlain  speaks  with 
the  greatest  enthusiasm,  Joseph  de  la  Roche  d'Aillon,  also 
joined  the  party.  They  set  sail  on  April  24,  1625,  on  the 
stout  Protestant  ship  owned  by  Guillaume  de  Caen,  and 
reached  Quebec  on  June  19th  of  the  same  year. 


76 


CHAPTER  II. 
Up  the  Ottawa. 

We  have  no  details  of  how  the  ocean  treated  the  mission- 
aries on  the  way  over.  In  the  best  of  times,  the  passage 
was  always  accompanied  with  great  suffering;  but  in  this 
instance,  if  the  travelers  escaped  the  tempests  of  the  deep, 
they  encountered  a  wild  political  storm  when  they  entered 
the  St.  Lawrence. 

Before  their  coming,  the  acting  Governor,  Emery  de  Caen, 
had  excited  the  colonists  against  the  Jesuits  by  circulating 
the  libellous  pamphlet  called  "  Anti-Coton,"  which  had 
caused  great  commotion  in  the  mother  country,  and  could 
be  trusted  to  do  the  same  at  Quebec.  It  succeeded  to  a 
certain  extent,  and  when  the  ship  dropped  anchor  before 
the  city,  de  Brebeuf  and  his  companions  were  forbidden  to 
land.  In  view  of  what  a  journey  over  the  ocean  meant  in 
those  days,  the  order  was  one  of  the  greatest  inhumanity. 
But  the  faithful  friars  stood  by  their  friends.  They  took 
the  obnoxious  missionaries  off  the  vessel  in  defiance  of 
the  governor,  and  sheltered  them  in  the  Recollect  convent 
on  the  St.  Charles.  That  act  of  kindness  has  never  been 
forgotten. 

After  a  while  de  Caen  grew  ashamed  of  the  part  he  had 
taken,  and  granted  the  outcasts  a  strip  of  territory  on  the 
banks  of  the  Lairet,  a  little  tributary  of  the  St.  Charles. 
The  place  was  most  acceptable,  first  because  it  was  an  official 
recognition  of  their  presence,  and  secondly  because  Jacques- 
Cartier  had  wintered  on  that  very  spot,  ninety  years  before, 
with  his  scurvy-stricken  sailors,  and  had  sanctified  the  whole 
neighborhood  with  prayers  and  pilgrimages  while  waiting 
to  be  freed  from  the  grip  of  the  ice. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  even  now  this  most  interesting 

77 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  historical  site  is  so  difficult  of  access,  for  until  recently, 
at  least,  the  sordid  surroundings  were  scarcely  in  keeping 
either  with  the  beauty  of  the  monument  erected  there,  or 
with  the  heroism  it  commemorates. 

The  Jesuits  dedicated  their  Residence  to  Notre  Dame  des- 
Anges,  and  the  name  now  extends  to  that  entire  district 
of  the  suburbs  of  Quebec.  The  house  itself  was  not  much 
to  boast  of,  though  Champlain  admired  it.  It  was  about 
forty  feet  long,  and  a  little  over  thirty  wide.  It  had  four 
rooms ;  the  first  of  which  was  of  course  the  chapel ;  the 
second  the  refectory,  which  served  at  the  same  time  for  a 
sleeping  room.  There  were  two  other  apartments  with  two 
beds  in  each ;  while  a  sort  of  garret  provided  for  an  over- 
flow. "  Such,"  says  Parkman,  "  was  the  cradle  of  the 
American  Missions."  Topographers  in  quest  of  relics  may 
be  interested  to  know  that  it  stood  about  two  hundred  paces 
from  the  river. 

The  herculean  strength  of  de  Brebeuf  would  naturally 
have  come  into  requisition  for  the  erection  of  this  shelter, 
but  he  was  studying  Huron  night  and  day,  and  besides, 
something  more  immediately  apostolic  than  felling  timbers 
and  driving  stakes  presented  itself.  A  party  of  Hurons 
had  arrived  at  a  trading  post  on  the  St.  Lawrence  near  the 
present  Sorel.  It  was  called  Cape  Victory,  because  of  a 
successful  battle  which  Champlain  had  fought  there  against 
the  savages.  It  had  also  a  more  suggestive  name :  Pointc 
an  Massacre.  Many  an  Iroquois  had  been  slaughtered 
there.  Thither  de  Brebeuf  and  and  d'Aillon  betook  them- 
selves, expecting  to  meet  the  Recollect  Father  Viel  with 
the  Hurons,  but  he  never  came.  He  had  been  murdered  and 
his  body  flung  into  the  rapids  of  the  Back  River,  north 
of  the  Island  of  Montreal.  The  place  has  ever  since  been 
known  as  Sault  au  Recollet. 

On  the  borders  of  the  stream  to-day  stands  the  beautiful 
convent  of  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  further 
down,  but  not  on  the  river  bank  is  the  Jesuit  Novitiate,  the 

78 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

spiritual  birthplace  of  the  Canadian  as  well  as  of  the  older 
generation  of  the  New  York  Jesuits. 

De  Brebeuf  and  d'Aillon  heard  with  feelings  of  regret, 
and  perhaps  with  some  little  envy,  of  the  fate  of  Viel. 
They  would  gladly  have  exchanged  places  with  him.  But 
at  the  same  time  they  doubted  if  they  were  warranted,  in 
"the  then  excited  state  of  the  savage  mind,  to  rush  into  the 
same  danger.  Great  saints  are  not  rash,  and  it  was  there- 
fore deemed  proper,  after  doing  everything  possible  for 
the  Indians  at  Cape  Victory,  to  wait  for  better  times ;  and 
so  in  sadness  and  sorrow  they  turned  their  bark  canoe  down 
the  stream  to  Quebec. 

Though  bitterly  disappointed,  de  Brebeuf  determined  to 
make  up  for  this  defeat.  Winter  was  coming  on,  and 
the  Algonquins  were  setting  out  on  their  annual  hunting 
expedition,  and  so,  on  October  25,  1625,  he  disappeared 
with  them  in  the  w^oods,  living  in  the  filth  and  vermin  of 
their  tepees,  travelling  with  them  in  quest  of  game  over  the 
ice  and  snow,  sustaining  himself  on  their  disgusting  fare, 
or  starving  with  them  when  there  was  nothing  to  eat.  For 
some  time  he  was  unable  to  utter  an  intelligible  word  in  their 
language,  and  was  mocked  at  and  ridiculed  for  his  blunders, 
or  for  the  foul  expressions  they  put  in  his  mouth,  but  he 
kept  at  his  self  imposed  task  until  the  spring  thaws  drove 
the  Indians  back  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  Had  been  five 
months  away,  and  at  the  end  of  Holy  Week,  March  27, 
1626,  he  dragged  himself  back  weary  and  exhausted  to 
Notre  Dame  des  Anges.  He  had  not  converted  any  In- 
dians but  he  had  learned  their  language ;  not  indeed  Huron, 
which  he  was  particularly  anxious  to  master;  but  Algon- 
quin. Nevertheless  that  would  be  of  service  in  one  way 
or  another  later  on.  In  the  midst  of  the  terrible  hardships 
of  that  winter  he  had  even  composed  an  Algonquin  gram- 
mar and  dictionary ;  and,  what  was  still  better,  he  had 
.softened  the  hearts  of  the  savages,  who  w^ere  beginning  to 
understand  his  motives  and  to  like  and  admire  him. 

79 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

That  summer  his  beloved  Hurons  came  again  to  Cape 
Victory,  and  he  was  busy  among  them  imploring  to  be  taken 
to  their  country.  They  alleged  many  reasons  against  it, 
among  others  the  rather  humorous  one,  that  a  man  of  his 
bulk  would  double  up,  or  upset  any  canoe  he  might  step  into. 
If  the  objection  was  serious,  we  can  estimate  de  Brebeuf  s 
stature.  He  must  have  towered  above  any  savage  in  the 
tribe.  However,  by  lavishing  presents  on  them  he  suc- 
ceeded in  gaining  their  consent,  and  at  last  to  his  great 
delight  found  himself  paddling  up  the  Ottawa.  He  saw 
for  the  first  time  the  Rideau  Falls,  the  cataract  that  in 
those  days  came  down  like  a  silver  gauze  from  the  rocks 
above,  forming  regular  folds  as  it  descended,  and  then 
breaking  into  a  fringe  of  foam  as  it  sunk  into  the  torrent 
below.  The  fancy  of  the  travellers  likened  it  to  a  curtain, 
and  hence  the  name  which  it  still  retains.  It  has  now  lost 
its  former  beauty.  A  few  miles  further  up  he  heard  the 
roar  of  the  Chaudiere,  the  torrent  that  tumbles  from  the 
rocks,  sixty  feet  above,  into  the  semicircular  gulf  which  it 
has  been  digging  for  centuries  in  the  basin  at  its  feet,  where 
as  in  a  cauldron,  the  seething  waters  boil  and  foam  in  their 
furious  struggle  to  leap  into  the  river  below. 

Superstition  has  woven  its  web  of  weird  fancies  around 
the  Chaudiere.  In  the  minds  of  the  Indians  a  demon  dwelt 
in  its  caves,  and  as  many  a  canoe  had  been  hurled  over  its 
edge  the  malignant  spirit  had  to  be  propitiated.  With 
feelings  of  pity  and  no  doubt  of  proper  curiosity,  de  Brebeuf 
watched  his  future  neophytes  performing  the  solemn  cere- 
monies prescribed  for  such  occasions.  In  the  midst  of  a 
circle  of  braves  stood  the  chief.  In  his  outstretched  hands 
he  held  a  bark  dish  heaped  high  with  tobacco,  for  the  devil 
was  sadly  addicted  to  the  weed ;  his  humor  depending  on 
the  supply,  which  reveals  a  trait  of  the  human  in  the  ghost. 
Finally,  when  all  had  contributed  their  quota,  the  dish 
was  solemnly  placed  on  the  ground  and  then  interminable 
speeches  were  made  recounting  the  dangers  of  the  Falls, 

80 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

and  rehearsing  the  names  of  those  who  owed  their  safety 
to  the  reverence  accorded  to  this  old  tobacco  fiend.  Gro- 
tesque dances  and  gloomy  incantations  of  course  followed, 
and  when  the  muscles  and  eloquence  of  the  Indians  gave 
out,  the  chief  took  up  the  dish  and  walking  carefully  to 
the  edge  of  the  precipice  dropped  the  contents  into  the 
waters  amid  the  shouts  and  yells  of  the  satisfied  Hurons. 
The  journey  was  then  resumed. 

All  this  picturesqueness,  of  course,  has  long  since  de- 
parted with  the  advent  of  civilization.  The  sluices  and 
slides  and  sheds  of  commerce  now  crown  the  Chaudiere 
instead  of  its  former  fierce  rocks  and  forbidding  forests. 
It  is  the  western  boundary  of  the  City  of  Ottawa.  The 
climatic  conditions,  also,  must  have  changed  since  olden 
times,  for  late  in  November  1908,  there  was  not  enough 
water  tumbling  over  the  Chaudiere  to  turn  the  turbines  of 
the  factories.  There  were  other  rapids  of  course,  not  so 
terrible  perhaps,  as  the  Chaudiere,  but  making  up  in  num- 
ber what  they  lacked  in  difficulty  and  danger.  Notable 
among  them  was  the  Chute  des  Chats,  called  either  because 
of  the  catamounts  which  swarmed  in  the  neighborhood, 
or  because  of  the  cat-like  look  of  the  falls  as  it  leaped  down 
the  hillside  spitting  in  its  anger.  Further  on  was  the  Calu- 
met, around  which  a  legend  grew  up,  after  the  times  of  de 
Brebeuf. 

Cadieux,  a  clever  Frenchman  had  settled  there,  and 
gathered  around  him  a  number  of  Indians  whose  admira- 
tion and  affection  he  had  won  by  his  marvellous  skill  in 
many  arts,  which  he  made  use  of  to  better  the  condition 
of  his  savage  friends.  He  had  married  a  squaw,  and  made 
her  a  pious  Catholic,  but  the  Iroquois  had  discovered  this 
Indian  Arcadia,  and  were  bent  on  destroying  it.  Cadieux 
was  aware  of  it  and  one  day  when  an  attack  was  expected, 
he  sent  his  wife  down  the  rapids  with  some  trusty  friends  to 
insure  her  safety.  The  story  goes  that  the  luminous  figure 
of  la  bonne  Ste.  Anne  went  before  her  canoe,  guiding  it 

81 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

safely  through  the  wild  rush  of  the  water,  and  leading  her 
finally  to  the  homes  of  the  French.  Cadieux  and  a  single 
warrior  remained  to  defend  their  lodge.  By  shifting  from 
tree  to  tree,  and  with  every  shot  bringing  down  an  enemy, 
they  made  the  Iroquois  believe  that  a  great  number  of 
warriors  were  concealed  there,  until  the  assailants  finally 
lost  heart  and  fled.  But  Cadieux's  man  was  slain  and  he 
himself  was  wounded,  and  soon  sickened  and  died.  His 
name,  however,  still  lingers  around  the  Calumet,  and  for 
many  a  year  afterwards  the  trappers  stopped  there  to  pray, 
and  cut  a  cross  on  the  trees  in  memory  of  their  visit,  and 
perhaps  to  give  a  lasting  value  to  their  prayers.  There  is 
a  marble  monument  now  above  the  falls.  On  it  is  the  in- 
scription: "A  la  memoire  de  Cadieux."  There  is  no  date, 
but  it  was  erected  in  1891. 

There  were  thirty-five  or  forty  such  falls,  around  which 
long  portages  of  the  boats  and  baggage  had  to  be  made, 
the  missionary  bearing  his  burden  like  the  rest.  When 
not  struggling  over  rocks  or  sinking  in  morasses,  or  drag- 
ging his  canoe  through  the  shallows,  he  was  all  day  long 
plying  his  paddle  against  the  headlong  current  of  the  river. 
Indeed,  similar  portages,  though  not  accompanied  with  such 
hardship  have  to  be  made  even  in  our  own  times,  and  in 
some  parts  of  those  regions  the  country  is  as  wild  as  when 
the  savage  skulked  in  the  surrounding  forests.  They  finally 
reached  the  Isle  des  Allumettes,  or  Isle  du  Borgne,  from  the 
old  one-eyed  chief  who  held  sway  there.  It  was  the 
stronghold  of  the  Algonquins,  and  nature  had  fortified  it 
by  placing  formidable  rapids  at  both  ends  of  the  island. 
It  commanded  the  river,  and  no  one  could  pass  up  or  down 
without  permission  of  the  chief.  Long  after  de  Brebeuf 
had  seen  old  Le  Borgne,  Ragueneau  tried  to  go  dawn  to 
Quebec  with  the  remnants  of  the  Hurons.  He  was  in  a 
hurry,  no  doubt,  and  omitted  to  pay  his  respects  to  the 
authorities,  says  Tailhan,  but  he  had  to  atone  for  his  temer- 
ity by  being  hanged  to  a  tree  bv  the  armpits  till  he  agreed 

82  ' 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

to  the  terms  of  the  chief.  No  doubt  Ragueneau,  when 
he  was  there,  saw  the  great  cross  of  white  cedar  which 
Champlain  had  erected  on  the  island  wuth  the  arms  of  the 
King  of  France  cut  upon  it,  but  that  devout  explorer  had 
planted  many  another  along  the  banks  of  the  great  river. 
To-day  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ottawa  stands  the  City 
of  Pembroke,  with  its  cathedral  dedicated  to  St.  Columba. 
On  the  north  branch  of  the  river  is  St.  Patrick's.  There 
is  not  a  single  Indian  on  the  island  at  the  present  time. 

Leaving  the  domain  of  the  Borgne,  the  tired  wayfarers 
still  followed  the  Ottawa  westward,  which  there  takes  the 
name  of  the  Hollow  River,  for  it  is  Hke  the  Saguenay  in 
that  part  of  its  course,  and  flows  in  a  deep  gorge  between 
grim  and  towering  palisades  of  rock.  They  then  embarked 
on  the  Mattawa,  at  the  place  where  the  Ottawa  comes  down 
from  Lake  Temiscaming,  and  a  short  portage  after  some 
miles  led  them  on  to  the  gloomy  Lake  Nippissing,  shrouded 
in  its  dark  pine  forests  where  all  day  and  all  night  the 
inhabitants  gave  themselves  to  the  black  arts  of  the  sor- 
cerer, though  its  evil  reputation,  it  is  said,  was  unmerited. 
To-day  the  miner  has  supplemented  the  sorcerer,  and  Nip- 
pising  Cobalt  stock  is  quoted  in  all  the  markets  of  the 
world. 

From  the  Lake  they  launched  out  on  the  French  River 
which  is  north  of  the  famous  Muskoka  region,  now  the 
resort  of  summer  pleasure  seekers ;  and  out  of  the  French 
River  which  at  its  mouth  is  a  net  work  of  sharp  rocks 
protruding  above  the  water  they  sailed  into  the  vast  waters 
of  Georgian  Bay,  which  is  the  eastern  arm  of  Lake  Hare- 
gondi, — a  name  that  philologists  are  at  odds  about.  Cham- 
plain  called  it  La  Mer  Douce,  and  subsequently  it  appeared 
on  some  maps  as  Lac  d'Orleans,  but  its  familiar  name  is 
Lake  Huron ;  and  properly  so,  for  it  was  on  its  shores  that 
the  Huron  Indians  dwelt.  De  Brebeuf  regarded  it  as  the 
Promised  Land,  but,  as  with  the  Hebrews  of  old,  it  was  not 
to  be  possessed  without  fighting.    "  The  devils  who  had  been 

83 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

worshipped  there  for  centuries,"  says  Father  Martin,  "  were 
preparing  for  a  terrible  war  against  the  angels  who  came 
with  the  missionaries." 

We  find  in  the  wonderful  manuscript  of  Father  Pothier 
a  detailed  itinerary  of  this  journey  up  the  Ottawa.  It  was 
drawn  up  for  him  by  Joseph  Derouen,  and  was  written 
a  hundred  years  after  de  Brebeuf's  time,  but  of  course  the 
physical  features  of  the  region  travelled  over  were  un- 
changed. Apart  from  its  being  a  very  precious  historical 
document  it  will  help  us  to  appreciate  the  gigantic  labor 
involved  in  such  an  expedition.  Pothiers  handwriting  is 
exquisitely  clear,  but  the  paper  is  brown  with  age  and  there 
are  creases  and  even  cuts  of  a  knife  in  some  of  the  pages 
which  occasionally  make  the  figures  doubtful,  though  in  the 
main  they  are  decipherable.  The  itinerary,  it  is  true,  does 
not  terminate  in  Georgian  Bay  where  the  missions  formerly 
stood,  but  continues  on  till  it  reaches  Michilimackina — as 
he  spells  it.  However,  as  it  goes  as  far  as  the  mouth  of 
French  River,  it  will  serve  our  purpose. 

From  Montreal  to  Michilimackina  the  distance  was  reck- 
oned at  300  leagues,  which  is  divided  as  follows :  From 
Montreal  to  the  end  of  the  Island  ten  leagues;  to  the  Lac 
des  Deux  Montagnes  three;  to  the  Chateau  Blondeau  or 
Carillon  at  the  foot  of  the  Sault  six  or  three  leagues  (there 
is  a  correction  here  which  blurs  the  figure)  ;  to  the  Long 
Sault  three  leagues.  Now  begin  the  portages.  The  first 
is  at  the  foot  of  the  Long  Sault  and  is  a  league  in  length. 
Up  to  the  Chaudieres,  which  he  puts  in  the  plural,  and 
which  he  says  are  three  in  all,  the  Chaudiere  proper,  the 
middle  one,  and  the  Chenes,  it  is  twenty  leagues.  The 
several  portages  there  make  a  total  of  twenty-six  arpents, 
which  would  be  nearly  the  third  of  a  league, — an  arpent 
containing  about  180  feet.  Up  to  the  Chats  the  distance 
is  eleven  leagues,  and  arriving  there  other  portages  of 
thirty-six  arpents  had  to  be  made.  To  the  channel  of  the 
Calumet  it  was  a  matter  of  ten  leagues,  and  besides  smaller 

84 


< 

Q 

M 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

portages  there  was  one  of  two  leagues  and  a  half,  over 
steep  and  dangerous  rocks.  At  Achigan  another  laborious 
portage  of  six  leagues  had  to  be  faced.  After  leaving  the 
rocky  Allumettes  which  was  eleven  leagues  from  Achigan, 
the  travellers  reached  Hollow  or  Creux  River,  which  was 
eight  leagues  away,  and  following  its  course  for  twenty 
leagues  they  reached  the  Joachims — now  pronounced  some- 
thing like  Shoishons.  They  then  got  to  Roche  Capitaine, 
which  was  ten  leagues  away,  and  after  eight  leagues 
reached  the  fork  of  the  Matawa.  Here  the  names  became 
poetic  or  peculiar.  One  is  Plain  Chant,  another  is  Music; 
a  third  The  Roses.  The  name  of  the  Intendant  Talon  is 
commemorated  at  a  place  where  there  is  ice  all  the  year. 
Whether  or  not  it  referred  to  one  of  the  great  man's  pecu- 
liarities is  not  said.  After  that  comes  the  Lazy  Man  and 
the  Tortoise ;  the  distances  from  each  place  and  the  ever- 
recurring  portages  are  all  carefully  noted.  At  last  they 
enter  Lake  Nippisirien,  and  after  passing  another  Chau- 
diere,  which  is  at  the  source  of  the  Riviere  des  Frangais, 
they  continue  on  for  forty  leagues  in  the  course  of  which 
there  are  various  rapids  and  turns  of  the  stream  until  they 
finally  reach  Lake  Huron. 

When  de  Brebeuf  arrived  at  that  point  he  turned  his 
canoe  in  a  southerly  direction.  The  Derouen  itinerary  on 
the  contrary  follows  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Huron,  and 
keeps  on  past  Manitoulin  and  finally  ends  at  Michilimackina. 
Coming  back  to  our  missionaries  who  went  down  past  what 
is  now  Beausoleil  Island  and  landed  on  the  shores  of 
Penetanguishene  we  cannot  but  wonder  at  their  temerity 
in  attempting  to  conquer  this  remote  and  what  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  devil-infested  region.  But  those  three  men 
were  heroes :  de  Brebeuf,  de  None,  and  the  Recollect  de  la 
Roche  d'Aillon.  Martin  tells  us  that  d'Aillon  established 
himself  at  Caragouha,  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Huron 
peninsula,  and  that  the  two  Jesuits  pitched  their  tents  at 
Ihonitiria.     A  note  adds  that  Caragouha  was  replaced  sub- 

85 


PIONEER  TRIESTS  OF  NORTH  A^^IERICA. 

seqtiently  by  Ossossane,  and  that  Champlain  called  Ihonitiria 
Otouacha,  while  others  designated  it  as  Toanchen  or 
Toachim.  It  was  at  the  west  entrance  of  Penetangueshene 
Bay. 

Other  students  of  those  sites,  however,  dispute  the  find- 
ings, and  maintain  that  d'Aillon  never  went  to  Caragouha, 
and  that  it  was  never  a  distinct  mission,  but  that  he  re- 
mained with  the  Jesuits  until  he  left  for  his  mission  among 
the  Neutrals,  and  finally  that  the  party  did  not  stop  at 
Ihonitiria,  but  at  Toanche.  The  name  Ihonitiria  was  given 
to  the  village  that  replaced  Toanche  later  on,  and  it  was 
three  quarters  of  a  league  further  inland.  It  was  also 
called  Teandeonata,  of  which  it  was  a  part,  and  was  a 
little  further  west.  A  detailed  exposition  of  the  question 
may  be  found  in  Father  Jones'  scholarly  studies  of  the 
Huron  sites  published  by  the  Ontario  Government. 

Unfortunately  Father  de  None  could  make  no  hand  of 
the  difficult  Huron  language,  and  was  recalled  to  Quebec. 
But  he  atoned  for  his  failure  by  triumphing  later  on.  He 
was  found  on  his  knees  in  a  wild  snow  storm,  on  the  ice 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  frozen  to  death.  Father  d'Aillon  also, 
after  living  for  a  time  among  the  Neutral  Indians  joined 
de  Brebeuf  and  then  withdrew  to  the  colony,  leaving  the 
Jesuit  all  alone  in  the  wilderness.  Life  under  such  circum- 
stances was  necessarily  an  uninterrupted  series  of  suffering, 
discouragements,  and  dangers.  He  was  able  to  baptize 
only  a  few  dying  babes,  but  "  he  would  have  gone  to  the 
end  of  the  world,"  he  used  to  say,  "  to  accomplish  that 
much." 

Of  his  life  in  that  solitude  we  have  no  details  except  that 
while  he  was  there  he  succeeded  in  translating  Ledesma's 
Catechism  into  Huron.  Fortunately  Champlain  has  pre- 
served the  work  for  posterity,  by  publishing  it  along  with 
the  story  of  his  own  travels,  so  that  those  who  wish  may. 
if  they  are  brave  enough,  find  out  how  in  those  days  spiritual 
things  were  explained   to  the  savages  who  lived  around 

86 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

Matchedash  Bay.  We  know  that  he  went  over  to  evan- 
gelize the  Petuns  or  Tobacco  people,  but  how  frequently 
we  cannot  say.  When  he  returned  to  his  work,  after  the 
restoration  of  Canada  to  the  French,  he  again  visited  that 
tribe,  and  he  records  the  delight  he  felt  at  finding  in  ex- 
cellent health  a  little  lad  of  five  who,  when  a  baby  and  at 
the  point  of  death,  had  been  baptized  by  him  on  the  occasion 
of  that  first  apostolic  visit. 

One  more  event  of  those  days  we  make  out  from  his  sub- 
sequent wTitings.  It  occurred  in  1628,  the  year  of  the 
terrible  drought,  when  all  Huronia  was  on  fire.  Month 
after  month  passed  by  and  not  a  drop  of  rain  fell.  Every- 
thing was  parched  and  as  dry  as  tinder,  so  that  the  least 
spark  would  set  fire  to  a  cabin  or  a  forest  and  start  the  whole 
country  side  in  a  blaze.  Indians  came  from  all  directions 
and  reported  that  fires  were  raging  everywhere.  The 
springs  were  dried  up,  rocks  and  bottoms  were  showing 
in  the  rivers,  and  all  the  crops  were  ruined.  Day  and  night 
the  thumping  of  the  tortoise  drum  was  heard  as  the  sor- 
cerers kept  up  their  dances  and  incantations  to  bring  down 
the  rain,  but  though  the  thunder  was  heard  in  the  distance 
it  never  rattled  over  Toanche.  At  last  a  council  was  held 
and  it  was  decided  that  the  cause  of  the  curse  was  the  red 
cross  over  the  missionary's  wigwam.  A  deputation  was 
forthwith  appointed  to  order  him  to  take  it  down;  just  as 
de  Brebeuf's  fellow  countrymen  are  doing  in  France  to- 
day. "  Nonsense,"  he  answered,  "  You  have  had  abun- 
dance of  rain  since  it  was  placed  there,  and  I  will  not  take 
it  down."  "  It  is  not  so  much  the  cross,"  they  rejoined, 
"as  the  color;  it  is  red." 

As  in  Indian  mythology  thunder  is  a  celestial  turkey 
flapping  its  wings,  the  objection  was  considered  valid,  as 
no  turkey  takes  kindly  to  red.  To  humor  them  he  painted 
the  cross  white.  But  the  skies  were  as  obdurate  as  before. 
The  heat  was  increasing  and  the  Indians  were  in  despair. 
Finally  he  summoned  them  around  his  cabin  and  explained 

87 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

what  the  symbol  meant.  "  Come  here  to-morrow,"  he  said, 
"  and  let  us  honor  the  cross  after  the  Christian  fashion, 
and  we  shall  see  if  we  can  get  rain."  They  came  and 
prayed  so  fervently  that  "  they  almost  put  me  to  shame," 
he  wrote  good  humoredly.  God  heard  the  prayers  of  the 
poor  wretches  or  rather  of  the  saint  who  was  trying  to 
teach  them  sense.  Rain  poured  down  in  torrents,  and  ever 
after  that  de  Brebeuf  was  the  Great  Sorcerer.  It  was  a 
title  of  distinction  indeed,  but  was  fraught  with  danger, 
for  Indian  ethics  permitted  anyone  who  felt  so  disposed  to 
kill  a  sorcerer  at  sight,  and  be  counted  a  public  benefactor 
for  doing  so.  The  only  thing  that  kept  the  tomahawk  from 
the  head  of  de  Brebeuf  was  that  he  happened  to  be  the 
friend  of  Champlain.  To  kill  such  a  magician  might  in- 
volve the  whole  tribe  in  ruin,  and  hence  while  they  dreaded 
him  they  did  not  dare  to  hurt  him.  But  for  the  rest  of 
his  life  he  wore  this  uncomfortable  halo  on  his  head,  and 
walked  continually  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death. 

While  alone  in  those  wilds  he  was  unaware  that  events 
were  taking  place  which  were  to  close  this  first  period  of 
his  missionary  career.  Father  Masse,  who  had  replaced 
Charles  Lalemant  as  Superior,  ordered  him  to  report  with 
all  haste  at  Quebec.  The  Trading  Company  had  become 
more  intractable  than  ever.  Complaints  were  continually 
being  carried  to  the  Home  Government,  until  finally  Rich- 
elieu determined  to  take  the  matter  in  hand  himself.  He 
organized  the  famous  Company  of  the  Cent  Associes,  which 
for  some  time  after  was  to  be  prominent  in  the  history  of 
Canada.  Unfortunately,  however,  this  reorganization  of 
the  Company  coincided  with  a  declaration  of  war  against 
the  Huguenots  of  France;  and  though  the  great  cardinal 
made  short  shrift  of  them  when  he  took  La  Rochelle. 
he  forgot  their  capabilities  of  mischief  in  the  far  off 
colonies.  Only  then  the  folly  of  putting  all  the  business 
of  Quebec  in  the  hands  of  Huguenots  revealed  itself.  The 
evil  genius  of  that  period  was  David  Kerkt,  or  Kirke,  or 

88 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

Quer.  People  were  free  in  their  spelling  in  those  days. 
He  was  a  native  of  Dieppe,  and,  with  his  brothers  Louis 
and  Thomas,  had  gone  over  to  the  service  of  the  King  of 
England.  David  was  given  command  of  a  fleet  and  com- 
missioned to  blockade  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  He 
did  more.  On  July  3,  he  appeared  off  Cape  Tourmente, 
and  sent  a  messenger  to  Champlain  to  demand  his  sur- 
render. Though  in  the  direst  straits,  with  rations  down 
to  two  ounces  a  day  for  each  man,  and  with  only  fifty 
charges  of  powder  for  his  few  pieces  of  cannon,  Champlain 
put  on  such  a  show  of  bravery  that  Kirke  feared  to  make 
the  attack.  Meantime  the  first  ships  sent  out  by  the  new 
company  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy;  then  a  fleet  of 
five  vessels,  on  which  were  several  missionaries  was  caught 
by  the  blockaders,  and  only  one  made  its  way  back  to 
France  to  report  the  disaster. 

On  June  29,  1629,  Father  Noyrot  organized  another  ex- 
pedition which  was  wrecked  off  Cape  Canso,  and  Noyrot 
and  Brother  Malot  disappeared  in  the  waves.  Kirke  then 
plucked  up  courage,  and  on  the  19th  of  July  appeared  off 
Quebec.  Champlain,  however,  had  still  one  hope.  De 
Brebeuf,  who  was  on  his  way  from  the  Huron  country 
might  have  some  provisions  with  him,  but  when  he  came 
the  canoes  were  practically  empty,  and  at  last  the  starving 
garrison  struck  their  colors  and  Louis  Kirke  entered  the 
citadel. 

"  Louis,"  says  Champlain,  "  was  very  courteous,  for  he 
always  retained  the  natural  amiability  of  the  French,  al- 
though he  was  the  son  of  a  Scotchman  who  had  married 
at  Dieppe,"  an  observation  which  somewhat  reflects  on  the 
Scotch.  "  He  strove,  as  far  as  possible,  to  keep  the  French 
families  at  Quebec,  for  he  preferred  to  deal  with  them 
rather  than  with  the  English,  for  whom  he  always  had 
a  decided  repugnance."  On  account  of  this  benignity  of 
Kirke  two  or  three  families  lingered  on  in  the  colony 
when  Champlain  and  the  priests  departed  for  Tadoussac, 

89 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

where  David  was  awaiting  them.  On  the  way  down,  Louis 
Kirke  captured  a  vessel  commanded  by  de  Caen,  who  had 
slipped  past  the  blockaders,  but  who  in  any  case  would  have 
arrived  too  late.  His  misfortune,  however,  freed  him  from 
the  suspicion  of  working  in  complicity  with  the  Kirkes. 

David  treated  Champlain  with  great  consideration.  But 
it  must  have  been  a  trying  situation  for  the  defeated  gen- 
eral to  find  himself  face  to  face  with  some  of  his  own 
countrymen  who  had  been  false  to  their  king  and  their 
Faith.  Conspicuous  among  them  was  Etienne  Brule,  with 
whose  corpse  de  Brebeuf  had  to  concern  himself  later  in 
the  Northwest.  In  the  group  also  was  Nicholas  Marsolet. 
He,  however,  became  a  Frenchman  again,  a  good,  though  at 
one  time  a  somewhat  turbulent  citizen  of  Quebec,  and  is  now 
honored  as  the  founder  of  a  family  at  Three  Rivers.  There 
was  another  Frenchman  named  Pierre  Raye,  whom  Char- 
levoix stigmatizes  as  the  worst  possible  kind  of  scoundrel, 
and  another  named  Le  Bailiff,  to  whom  Kirke  handed  the 
keys  of  the  magazine  after  the  surrender.  Brule  and  Mar- 
solet protested  that  they  were  prisoners  of  the  English,  and 
had  been  compelled  to  act  as  they  did. 

The  one  who  attracted  most  attention  there  was  Michel. 
He  had  piloted  the  ships  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  was  every- 
where parading  his  importance.  He  even  treated  the 
Kirkes  with  lofty  contempt.  "  \Miat  were  they  but  w'me 
merchants?  "  he  said  "  and  yet  they  pretended  to  be  sailors." 
De  Brebeuf  particularly  excited  Michel's  wrath.  The  old 
sailor  cursed  and  blasphemed  so  vigorously  that  Champlain 
exclaimed  with  what  to  non-Gallic  ears  seems  something 
like  a  little  profanity:  "Good  God!  man,  but  you  swear 
pretty  well  for  a  reformer!  "  Michel  only  grew  more  in- 
censed, and  declared  he  would  have  it  out  with  the  priest 
before  night  or  be  hanged  for  it.  Night  came,  and  poor 
Michel  was  a  corpse.  His  choler  and  drink  brought  on  an 
apoplectic  fit  which  carried  him  off.  On  account  of  his 
dignity  as  Captain-in-chief,  the  sailors  gave  him  a  great 

90 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUR 

funeral,  though  they  hated  him.  Official  honors  were  his 
due,  but  Champlain  records  that  he  never  saw  such  riot  as 
after  the  obsequies.  The  mournrers  boarded  Michel's  ship 
and  broached  all  his  Malaga  to  drown  their  grief.  Three 
years  afterwards,  Le  Jeune  wrote  from  Quebec  that  when 
the  vessels  had  sailed  away,  the  Indians  dug  up  the  corpse, 
treated  it  with  the  greatest  indignity,  and  then  gave  it  to 
the  dogs.  Kingsford  who,  of  course,  is  pro-English,  thinks 
that  Champlain's  account  of  the  revels  is  not  really  his, 
but  was  written  afterwards  by  some  foreign  hand. 

While  these  Indian  manifestations  of  dislike  were  being 
given  utterance  to  at  Tadoussac,  Champlain  and  his  friends 
were  making  for  France.  Late  in  October,  1629,  they 
landed  at  Calais.  All  their  great  schemes  had  come  to 
naught ;  and  what  was  particularly  galling,  they  found  out, 
when  they  reached  home,  that  Quebec  has  been  seized  three 
months  after  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed.  The  Kirkes 
had  thus  been  unconscious  buccaneers,  and  the  English  were 
in  possession  of  a  territory  they  did  not  own.  Nor  was 
that  all.  Not  only  did  it  seem  as  if  the  knell  of  the  mis- 
sions had  sounded  forever,  but  that  all  the  political  aspira- 
tions of  France  in  the.  New  World  were  thenceforth  to  be 
abandoned.  The  great  Richelieu  was  apparently  as  ready 
as  Mme.  de  Pompadour  at  a  later  date,  to  give  up  "  the 
few  acres  of  snow,"  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  persistent 
entreaties  of  Champlain,  Canada  would  have  certainly 
passed  over  at  that  time  to  English  control.  Finally,  after 
the  treaty  of  Saint  Germain-en-Laye  had  dragged  on  for 
three  years,  an  agreement  was  come  to  that  in  spite  of 
Kirke's  victory,  Canada  should  be  restored  to  France,  and 
thus  after  being  the  Founder,  Champlain  now  became  the 
Saviour  of  New  France.  Without  delay,  Du  Plessis  Bou- 
chard, Champlain's  lieutenant,  was  despatched  to  take  pos- 
session of  Quebec,  and  on  the  vessel  with  him  were  Father 
Le  Jeune,  who  was  to  be  the  Superior  of  the  re-established 
missions.  Father  de  Noue,  and  Brother  Buret. 

91 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Where  was  de  Brebeuf?  On  his  return  frorn  America 
he  had  been  sent  to  Rouen,  where  he  pronounced  his  final 
vows  as  a  Jesuit,  January  30,  1630.  The  date  is  worth  re- 
cording, inasmuch  as  it  reminds  us  that  he  passed  through 
the  terrible  trials  of  the  Indian  apostolate  before  being 
irrevocably  bound  to  the  Order.  His  was  the  first  instance, 
at  least  in  the  group  we  are  now  considering,  of  this  extra- 
ordinary delay  in  granting  the  vows,  and  it  implied  a 
sublime  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  superiors  in  the  virtue 
of  their  subordinates.  While  in  France  he  was  appointed 
Procurator  of  the  College.  It  was  the  second  time  he  had 
held  that  office,  whose  requirements  seem  so  incompatible 
with  the  habits  of  a  man  who  had  been  living  among 
savages,  with  nothing  to  spend,  and  nothing  to  eat,  and 
almost  nothing  to  wear.  But  this  disregard  of  worldly 
methods  is  not  infrequently  displayed  in  religious  communi- 
ties. At  least  he  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  there  several 
of  the  great  men  who  were  already  or  were  later  to  be 
identified  with  the  history  of  the  American  missions.  There 
was  Charles  Lalemant,  who  had  returned  to  France  before 
de  Brebeuf,  and  was  later  on  to  be  twice  shipwrecked  in 
his  efforts  to  resume  his  work  in  the  colony.  He  met  Simon 
Le  Moyne,  who  was  to  achieve  celebrity  both  in  Canada 
and  New  York;  and  greater  than  either  of  the  latter  he 
saw  Isaac  Jogues.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no 
records  of  the  conversations  of  these  illustrious  men,  about 
the  work  in  which  they  were  all  absorbed.  It  would  be 
a  study  of  the  heroic. 


92 


CHAPTER  III. 
The  Second  Attempt. 

Why  was  de  Brebeuf  not  on  the  first  ship  that  sailed  to 
America?  Perhaps  he  had  not  yet  balanced  his  books. 
However,  when  Champlain,  who  was  now  accredited  as 
"  Captain  of  the  King's  Navy  and  Lieutenant  of  His  Lord- 
ship the  Cardinal,  throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,"  sailed  out  of  the  harbor  of  Dieppe,  March  23, 
1633,  de  Brebeuf  was  at  his  side.  The  little  fleet  entered 
the  river  in  the  beginning  of  May,  but  on  account  of  the 
floating  ice  it  failed  to  reach  Quebec  until  June  2d.  The 
booming  of  the  ship's  cannon  announced  the  arrival  of  the 
chief,  and  every  gun  on  the  rock  roared  back  a  welcome. 
With  characteristic  enthusiasm  de  Brebeuf  knelt  down  and 
kissed  the  earth  when  he  landed.  His  efforts  to  reach 
Huronia  were  at  first  as  unavailing  as  they  had  been  years 
before,  for  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  Hurons  were  from  the 
beginning  very  antagonistic  to  Christianity,  and  although 
six  hundred  of  them  came  down  to  greet  Champlain,  and 
though  flattered  and  feasted  and  cajoled,  Champlain  making 
great  promises,  and  de  Brebeuf  delivering  great  speeches, 
and  bringing  the  red  men  over  to  Notre  Dame  des  Anges 
to  see  the  wonders  of  that  establishment  they  remained 
unimpressed.  After  selling  their  pelts  they  flitted  away 
like  birds  over  the  water  on  their  journey  home.  Never- 
theless, while  waiting  for  the  chance  to  go,  de  Brebeuf 
found  plenty  of  work  among  the  Algonquin  savages  around 
him,  and  one  or  two  of  his  conversions  may  be  recorded, 
chiefly  on  account  of  the  marvellous  happenings  in  connec- 
tion with  them.  They  are  narrated  in  the  "  Relation  "  of 
1634. 

There  was  a  certain  young  Indian  named  Samousat,  about 

93 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of  age,  who  one  day  heard  the 
interpreter  talking  about  the  pains  of  hell  and  the  joys  of 
paradise.  "If  that  be  so,"  he  exclaimed,  "  take  me  to 
France  to  be  instructed.  Otherwise  you  will  have  to  answer 
for  my  soul !  " — not  that  he  was  eager  for  foreign  travel, 
but  the  temptations  to  evil  were  too  frequent  in  his  surround- 
ings and  he  was  frightened.  But  he  fell  seriously  ill  a  few 
days  afterwards,  and  when  the  priest  found  him  he  was 
already  delirious.  De  Brebeuf  and  his  friends  were  nat- 
urally very  much  worried  on  that  account,  and  they  began 
a  novena  of  Masses  for  the  Indian's  recovery.  The  Mass 
of  the  first  day  was  scarcely  finished  when  the  news  came 
that  Samousat  had  recovered  consciousness,  and  was  ex- 
tremely anxious  to  be  baptized.  He  was  put  off  for  a  few 
days,  but  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  decision,  and  told 
another  Indian  that  during  the  night  he  had  seen  Father 
de  Brebeuf  enter  his  cabin  to  baptize  him,  and  that  as  soon 
as  the  priest  sat  down  at  his  side  the  sickness  left  him.  The 
story  was  told  to  de  Brebeuf  who  hurried  to  the  dying 
man. 

Just  then  the  Indians  were  going  to  shift  their  quarters, 
and  the  invalid  had  to  be  cared  for;  so  he  was  put  on  a 
toboggan,  and  to  his  great  delight  was  lodged  at  Notre 
Dame  des  Anges.  He  thought  he  was  in  heaven.  On  the 
26th  of  January  he  fell  into  a  faint,  and  fearing  he  would 
die  the  priest  baptized  him.  Coming  to,  he  was  overjoyed 
to  hear  what  had  happened,  and  for  the  two  days  that  inter- 
vened before  he  expired  he  was  constantly  occupied  in 
making  acts  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  and  confessing 
aloud  the  evil  deeds  he  had  committed.  He  was  instructed 
in  the  nature  of  Extreme  Unction,  and  when  he  was 
anointed  he  asked  the  Fathers  to  come  and  sing  hymns  at 
his  bedside.     While  they  were  so  engaged  he  died. 

But  that  was  not  all.  "  A  few  hours  after  his  death," 
wrote  Le  Jeune,  "  a  great  light  appeared  at  the  windows 
of  our  house,  rising  and  falling  three  distinct  times.     The 

94 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

Father  and  several  of  the  workmen  ran  out  thinking  the 
house  was  on  fire,  but  they  saw  nothing.  His  relatives, 
who  were  in  the  woods,  also  saw  a  similar  phenomenon 
around  their  wigwam  and  were  terrified,  for  they  regarded 
it  as  a  forerunner  of  death.  "  I  was  at  that  time,"  Le 
Jeune  continues,  "  forty  leagues  from  Quebec  in  the  cabin 
of  the  dead  man's  brother.  At  the  same  hour,  and  on  the 
same  day,  as  I  found  afterwards  by  comparing  notes  with 
Father  de  Brebeuf,  I  saw  the  same  strange  light.  All  the 
Indians  ran  out  of  the  wigwam  with  me.  As  they  were 
extremely  frightened,  I  told  them  it  was  only  a  flash  of 
lightning,  and  that  they  should  not  be  alarmed.  But  they 
replied  that  it  was  not  merely  a  flash,  as  it  had  continued  for 
some  time  before  their  eyes.  '  Besides,'  they  said,  '  who  ever 
saw  lightning  in  such  bitter  cold  weather  as  this  ?  '  When 
I  asked  what  they  thought  of  it,  they  answered :  'It  is 
death.  The  Manitou  is  feeding  in  those  flames.'  "  Le 
Jeune,  who  records  these  phenomena,  was  not  a  man  to 
give  way  to  his  imagination,  nor  does  he  draw  any  con- 
clusion from  it  at  all.     He  merely  tells  the  story. 

There  was  another  Indian  named  Manitougatche,  or  La 
Nasse,  as  the  French  called  him,  who  used  to  know  the 
Fathers  before  the  English  took  Quebec.  He  had  been  badly 
treated  by  the  newcomers,  and  as  soon  as  the  priests 
returned  he  pitched  his  tepee  near  the  house  and  said  he 
wanted  to  be  a  Christian,  protesting  he  would  never  leave 
the  place,  no  matter  what  they  did  to  him.  Unfortunately 
he  had  a  young  relative  who  had  been  sent  to  France  by 
the  Recollects,  and  who  after  having  been  well  educated 
there  took  up  with  the  English,  and  from  that  degenerated 
into  his  former  savagery  and  became  a  bitter  enemy  of 
the  Faith.  He  filled  poor  old  Manitougatche' s  mind  with 
all  sorts  of  prejudices,  but  did  not  succeed  in  alienating 
him  from  the  missionaries.  After  a  while  Manitougatche 
fell  sick,  and  he  also  was  moved  into  the  house.  It  took 
a  long  time  to  get  him  into  proper  dispositions,  but  at  last 

95 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

everything  was  straightened  out  and  he  was  told  he  was 
to  be  baptized.  Sick  as  he  was,  he  crawled  over  to  the 
chapel  before  the  priest  could  come  to  him.  He  answered 
in  excellent  fashion  all  the  questions  about  the  Creed  and 
the  Commandments,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  family  was 
baptized.  When  the  medicine  men  came  in  to  carry  him 
off  so  as  to  have  a  dance  over  him  he  drove  them  out  of  the 
cabin,  though  his  wife  and  daughter  entreated  him  to  con- 
sent. "  On  Holy  Saturday,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  Mani- 
tougatche  went  to  spend  Easter  in  heaven." 

Such  were  some  of  the  bright  scenes  in  the  Algonquin 
wigwams  around  Quebec  which  delighted  de  Brebeuf 
while  he  was  waiting  to  get  back  to  the  land  where  he 
had  left  his  heart. 

The  time  at  last  came,  for,  like  other  mortals,  the  Hurons 
turned  to  God  when  they  were  in  distress.  In  the  year 
following  their  refusal  to  accept  the  missionaries,  they 
were  badly  beaten  by  the  Iroquois.  Five  hundred  of  them 
had  come  down  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  sell  their  furs,  but 
before  they  reached  Quebec  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  their 
enemies.  They  were  caught  in  an  ambush  and  in  the  fight 
that  followed  two  hundred  of  their  warriors  were  slain, 
and  another  hundred  taken  prisoners.  The  battered  rem- 
nant hurried  down  the  river  to  implore  the  protection  of 
the  French.  They  were  now  willing  to  accept  missionaries. 
It  was  the  old  story  of  "  when  the  devil  was  sick,"  for  as 
a  matter  of  fact  they  rejected  Christianity  until  they  saw 
themselves  on  the  verge  of  destruction.  Their  acceptance 
of  it  was  only  a  death-bed  conversion.  But  death-beds  are 
often  God's  harvest  fields.     It  was  so  in  this  instance. 

De  Brebeuf,  Daniel,  Davost  and  a  number  of  laymen 
who  had  offered  themselves  for  service  in  the  missions, 
along  with  four  or  five  soldiers  went  back  with  the  crest- 
fallen Hurons.  In  the  party,  it  may  be  noted,  was  the 
famous  z'oyageur  John  Nicolet,  of  whom  we  shall  hear 
more  later  on.     On  this  trip,  however,  he  was  only  going 

96 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

as  far  as  Isle  ties  Allumettes.  The  Indians  were  depressed 
and  they  were  also  surly,  so  that  the  terrible  hardships  of 
the  journey  were  made  almost  intolerable  by  their  bad 
temper.  Even  the  herculean  strength  of  de  Brebeuf  nearly 
gave  way  under  the  strain.  Davost,  who  was  somewhat 
on  in  years,  arrived  at  the  mission  post  in  such  a  state  of 
exhaustion  that  it  took  him  a  long  time  to  recover,  and 
perhaps  that  may  have  been  the  beginning  of  the  trouble 
which  sent  him  back  to  France  a  few  years  after.  He  died 
on  the  way  over  and  was  buried  at  sea.    . 

In  the  usual  improvident  fashion  of  the  Hurons,  the 
canoes  separated  on  the  journey  up,  in  spite  of  the  risk 
they  ran  of  making  themselves  helpless  in  the  face  of  an 
enemy  who  had  just  treated  them  so  rudely.  Of  the  white- 
men  de  Brebeuf  arrived  first,  after  a  whole  month  of  in- 
tense suffering,  and  was  unceremoniously  landed  on  the 
north  shore  of  Penetanguishene  Bay,  near  where  he  had 
lived  some  years  before.  He  knev>^  where  he  was,  of 
course.  But  there  was  no  sign  of  any  human  habitatiort 
around  him,  and  as  the  Indians  began  to  throw  his  traps 
on  the  shore  he  asked  them :  "  Are  you  going  to  leave  me 
here?  Will  you  not  lead  me  to  the  nearest  village?  Will 
you  not  stay,  at  least,  to  watch  these  goods  while  I  go 
hunt  for  some  one?"  They  made  no  answer.  "Do  you 
forget  all  I  did  for  you  ?  how  I  nursed  you,  on  the  way  up^ 
when  you  were  sick,  and  cared  for  you  when  you  were 
injured?  Will  you  not  at  least  keep  your  promise?" 
They  looked  at  him  in  sullen  silence  and  paddled  away,, 
leaving  him  helpless  in  the  wilderness.  But  it  was  not  the 
first  time  he  had  seen  such  manifestations  of  brutality,  and 
he  excused  them  by  saying  "  it  was  the  result  of  sickness, 
which  often  changes  the  kindliest  dispositions." 

Another  man  would  have  given  himself  up  to  despair. 
For  him  it  was  only  a  petit  disgrace,  a  slight  misfortune, 
by  which  the  Lord  admonished  him  that  the  land  was  ta 
be  conquered  by  suffering,  and  he  knelt  down  to  thank 

97 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

God,  Our  Lady,  and  St.  Joseph,  for  the  graces  and  favors 
he  had  received  on  the  journey,  and  to  implore  the  divine 
assistance  in  the  work  he  was  now  beginning.  He  saluted 
the  Guardian  Angels  of  the  country,  and  offered  himself 
to  God  for  the  salvation  of  the  poor  Indians.  He  then  felt 
confident  that  he  would  be  rescued. 

Knowing  that  he  had  to  bestir  himself  he  hid  some  of 
his  bundles  in  the  woods,  keeping  on  his  person  what  was 
most  precious,  and  then  started  out  to  prospect.  It  was 
the  5th  of  August,  1635,  and  it  was  already  late  in  the 
afternoon.  He  knew  that  Toanche,  where  he  had  labored 
six  years  before,  ought  to  be  three  quarters  of  a  league 
inland,  and  he  directed  his  steps  thither.  But  alas !  there 
was  no  Toanche.  He  found  only  the  ruins  of  one  old 
cabin.  All  the  rest  was  a  heap  of  ashes.  One  thing,  how- 
ever, in  the  general  desolation  before  him,  filled  him  with 
delight.  The  place  where  his  chapel  had  once  stood,  and 
where  he  had  offered  the  Holy  Sacrifice  for  three  years,  was 
not  covered  with  wreckage  as  all  the  rest.  It  was  a  smooth 
and,  in  his  eyes,  a  beautiful  meadow.  "  I  gazed  at  it,"  he 
said,  "  with  tenderness,  and  a  flood  of  recollections  filled 
my  heart."  Although  he  does  not  say  so,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  knelt  down,  and  kissed  the  consecrated  ground  as 
he  had  done  at  Quebec  when  he  saw  himself  once  again 
in  the  land  for  which  he  was  going  to  sacrifice  his  life. 

Doubtless,  also,  he  prayed  at  another  place  near  by;  at 
the  grave  of  the  voyageur  Etienne  Brule,  whom  he  had 
seen  a  few  years  before  among  the  enemies  of  his  country, 
at  the  surrender  of  Quebec.  "  Here,"  he  said,  "  poor 
Etienne  was  treacherously  and  barbarously  murdered." 
Happy  Etienne!  to  have  had  a  saint  praying  above  his 
unconsecrated  grave  in  the  wilderness.  "  It  made  me 
tliink,"  continues  de  Brebeuf,  "  of  the  fate  that  was  in  store 
for  us,  and  to  hope  that  at  least  it  might  be  while  we  were 
seeking  the  glory  of  Our  Lord."  He  did  not  imagine  that 
a  year  afterwards  he  would  be  asked  to  dig  up  those  mould- 

98 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

■ev'mg  remains  and  to  inter  them  with  honor  at  Ossossane. 

Brdle  had  had  a  very  unsavory  career.  He  had  come 
out  as  a  mere  lad  with  Champlain,  probably  in  1G08.  He 
became  an  interpreter  for  the  Hurons,  and  had  spent  eight 
years  among  the  various  tribes,  but  unhappily  he  became 
as  bad  as  the  savages.  In  1615  he  was  sent  among  the 
Hurons,  and  was  afterwards  commissioned  by  Champlain 
to  visit  the  Andastes  on  the  Susquehanna  in  order  to  make 
a  treaty  with  them  against  the  Iroquois ;  but  he  came  back 
to  Quebec  only  three  years  later  and  excused  himself  by 
saying  that  he  had  been  retained  among  the  Andastes,  but 
had  explored  the  country  southward  to  the  sea,  probably 
Chesapeake  Bay,  and  that  afterwards  on  his  return  he  had 
been  captured  by  the  Iroquois  and  had  finally  made  his 
way  to  the  Hurons.  After  the  capture  of  Quebec,  in  1629, 
he  went  over  to  the  English,  but  subsequently  came  back 
and  sought  his  old  haunts  among  the  Hurons.  Champlain 
informs  us  that  he  was  licentious  and  depraved.  Sagard 
says  he  was  murdered  for  some  evil  deed,  and  that  his 
flesh  was  eaten  by  the  savages.  No  doubt  some  mark 
had  been  left  to  indicate  the  place  of  burial  of  the 
unfortunate  man,  as  the  Indians  for  a  long  time  after- 
wards feared  that  the  whites  w^ould  avenge  his  death,  and 
they  were  anxious  to  treat  the  remains  with  some  honor 
to  prove  that  they  were  guiltless  of  the  murder. 

De  Brebeuf  could  not  have  lingered  long  there,  for 
evening  was  coming  on,  and  some  shelter  must  be  found. 
Whither  he  was  to  go  he  did  not  know,  but  at  last  he  saw  a 
village  before  him,  and  heard  the  cry:  "Echon!  Echon  is 
come  back  to  us.  Our  brother,  our  cousin,  our  nephew 
has  returned."  He  was  among  his  friends  and  they  flocked 
around  him,  exclaiming:  "  We  are  happy  now.  Our  corn 
will  no  longer  wither.  He  will  protect  it."  He  was  still 
the  Great  Sorcerer,  who  could  "  make  the  rain  fall  at  will." 
He  returned  their  greetings  most  cordially,  and  then  chose 
as  his  dwelling  the  cabin  that  would  be  best  able  to  support 

99 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

him  and  his  companions,  who  would  arrive,  he  hoped,  in 
a  few  days.  He  rested  only  long  enough  to  relieve  his 
hunger,  for  it  was  getting  late,  and  his  possessions  were 
a  long  way  off  in  the  woods,  and  had  to  be  secured.  Some 
of  the  braves  volunteered  to  go  with  him,  and  at  one 
o'clock  that  night  he  returned  to  the  village,  and  laid  them 
down  in  the  hospitable  wigwam  that  had  received  him  as 
a  guest. 

He  was  now  at  Teandeouihata,  the  place  occupied  by  the 
people  who  had  formerly  been  at  Toanche.  It  was  also 
called  Ihonitiria,  and  its  exact  site  has  evoked  considerable 
discussion.  Parkman,  in  his  text,  says  it  was  on  Thunder 
Bay,  but  on  his  map  we  find  it  near  Penetanguishene.  By 
a  careful  study  of  the  various  journeys  of  Champlain  and 
the  Recollects,  and  by  exact  measurements  of  the  distances 
they  covered  on  their  journeys,  while  at  the  same  time 
keeping  in  view  the  direction  in  which  they  travelled,  Father 
Jones  has  satisfactorily  established  the  position  of  Ihonitiria 
as  not  being  either  Thunder  or  Penetanguishene  Bay,  but 
on  the  point  of  land  which  is  now  Point  Todd,  south  of 
Grant's  Tomb  Island.  It  looks  over  to  the  famous  Chris- 
tian Island,  the  last  refuge  of  the  Hurons  after  the  murder 
of  de  Brebeuf. 

We  cannot  enter  here  into  all  the  details  of  the  minute 
and  scientific  investigation  which  led  to  this  conclusion, 
but  must  refer  the  reader  to  Father  Jones'  learned  work, 
published  by  the  Ontario  Government,  entitled  "  Ouendake 
Ehen,  or  Defunct  Huronia."  It  consists  of  two  parts. 
The  first  deals  with  the  topography  of  the  country  in  mis- 
sion times,  while  the  second  is  a  record  of  the  missionaries 
and  of  the  missionary  centres  from  1615  to  1650.  It  is  a 
most  valuable  contribution  to  the  knowledge  of  the  territory 
of  the  old  Hurons.  and  is  indispensable  for  those  who 
desire  to  make  their  way  through  the  tangled  narrative  of 
the  "  Relations,"  starting  from  Ihonitiria  or  "  The  Little 
Village    of    the    Loaded    Canoe."       It    was    conveniently 

100 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

perched  on  a  blufif  overlooking  a  little  harbor  which  was 
well  protected  from  wind  and  wave,  so  that  the  well- 
freighted  canoes  from  Quebec  might  land  their  stores  in 
safety  at  that  place. 

We  have  an  almost  Homeric  description  of  it  in  a  con- 
versation which  took  place  between  de  Brebeuf  and  the  chief, 
later  on, when  there  was  cpiestion  of  changing  the  site  of 
the  village.  The  Indian  speaks  with  all  the  dignity  of 
one  of  Agamemnon's  chieftains,  as  he  remonstrates  with 
de  Brebeuf,  who  was  opposed  to  the  removal:  "  Echon," 
said  ^E^nons,  anticipating  the  objection,  "  I  know  well  that 
you  are  going  to  say  that  you  dread  being  further  from 
the  Lake ;  but  I  pledge  my  word  that  you  will  not  be  as 
far  away  as  you  imagine.  And,  even  if  you  were,  why 
worry  about  it?  You  are  not  going  to  fish.  All  the  vil- 
lage will  do  that  for  you.  Will  you  find  it  hard  to  unload 
your  parcels  from  Quebec?  Not  at  all.  There  will  not 
be  a  soul  in  the  village  who  will  not  be  glad  to  serve  you 
in  that  matter.  It  is  true  that  you  will  not  come  to  the 
shore  of  the  Lake  to  receive  what  is  sent  to  you ;  but  what 
matter,  for  everything  is  brought  to  your  door.  In  case 
you  want  to  employ  the  people  of  Ossossane,  if  they  care 
for  you  they  will  not  put  you  to  the  trouble  of  going  all 
the  way  to  their  village  as  they  usually  pass  by  the  place 
where  we  propose  to  put  our  new  dwellings."  From  these 
indications  topographers  are  able  to  fix  almost  to  a  certainty 
the  location  of  Ihonitiria. 


101 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Controlling  the  Indians. 

De  Brebeuf  does  not  seem  to  have  been  deliberating 
whether  he  would  hve  in  the  new  or  the  old  Ihonitiria.  He 
was  only  asking  himself  whether  it  would  not  be  advisable 
to  transfer  his  headquarters  to  Ossossane,  which  was  a 
larger  place,  and  where  he  was  asked  for  by  the  inhabitants. 
But  on  the  other  hand  it  would  be  unwise  to  send  his 
companions,  who  as  yet  spoke  the  language  very  imper- 
fectly, to  a  place  where  they  might  be  jeered  at;  besides 
it  would  have  been  a  very  ungrateful  act  to  abandon  those 
who  had  first  given  them  shelter,  especially  as  according 
to  Indian  ethics  the  Ihonitirians  would  be  still  responsible 
for  the  safety  of  the  missionaries.  So  he  yielded  to  the 
solicitations  of  the  chief;  selected  a  site  for  the  house,  and 
every  one  began  to  build  it  with  the  greatest  expedition. 
It  was  in  conformity  with  their  ideas  of  architecture,  with 
the  opening  at  the  top  as  a  vent  for  the  smoke,  but  the 
interior  subdivisions  which  the  missionaries  insisted  on 
having,  and  especially  the  doors,  which  swung  on  hinges, 
filled  them  with  amazement. 

They  swarmed  into  the  house  at  all  hours,  and  gazed 
around  at  its  wonders.  The  clock  cjuite  stupefied  them, 
especially  as  it  rung  when  it  was  told,  and  stopped  appar- 
ently for  the  same  reason.  "What  does  it  say?"  they 
asked.  One  of  the  workmen  replied :  "  When  it  strikes 
twelve  it  says  '  clear  out,  and  also  when  it  strikes  four.'  " 
They  believed  him,  and  always  hurried  away  in  hot  haste, 
even  though  some  had  hoped  to  share  the  contents  of  the 
pot  at  midday.  The  Indian  is  always  hungry,  but  the  clock 
had  to  be  obeyed.  The  microscope  or  magnifying  glass  was 
an  object  of  alarm,  especially  when  it  made  insects  tliat 

103 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

swarmed  in  the  hair  and  clothing  take  the  dimensions  of 
lobsters.  The  mirror,  also,  with  its  many  angles,  frightened 
them  by  multiplying  the  number  of  their  noses,  eyes,  ears, 
etc. ;  but  the  magnet  they  were  sure  had  glue  on  it ;  and  the 
art  of  reading  script  was  startling.  One  of  the  priests 
would  go  outside,  and  then  some  would  have  a  conversation 
with  the  other  blackrobe  in  the  wigwam.  When  the  one 
who  had  withdrawn  had  returned,  he  would  read  from  a 
piece  of  paper  all  that  had  been  said.  The  wondering  red 
man  wanted  to  have  the  operation  repeated  from  morning 
till  night. 

Everything  went  smoothly  for  a  while.  The  chief  would 
even  go  through  the  village  and  summon  the  people  to  hear 
the  missionaries.  Daniel  taught  the  children  to  sing,  and 
they  were  soon  chanting  the  prayers  in  Huron,  both  in  the 
lodges  and  in  the  village  streets.  The  Fathers  were  picking 
up  the  languare  quickly,  especially  Le  Mercier,  who  had 
just  arrived.  Daniel  was  already  an  adept.  But  a  con- 
tinual and  overwhelming  terror  of  the  Iroquois  occupied 
their  minds,  especially  in  the  summer  time  when  the  braves 
were  away.  Indeed,  at  one  time  there  was  question  of 
leaving  the  village  and  taking  to  the  woods,  even  in 
the  winter,  although  with  the  leaves  off  the  trees,  conceal- 
ment would  have  been  impossible  and  the  exposure  and 
hardship  would  have  been  fatal  to  many. 

De  Brebeuf  determined  to  put  an  end  to  such  a  condition 
of  things.  He  was  not  a  man  to  trust  merely  to  prayers, 
as  a  means  of  defense,  and  he  therefore  went  from  village 
to  village  and  induced  the  Indians  to  repair  their  neglected 
palisades.  He  made  them  abandon  their  system  of  building 
their  circular  forts,  and  showed  them  the  advantage  of 
rectangular  constructions  with  bastions  at  the  corners.  He 
supplied  the  braves  with  metal  arrowheads  to  take  the  place 
of  their  flints ;  and  promised  to  send  the  few  soldiers  he 
had  to  the  first  place  that  might  be  attacked,  assuring  them 
at  the  same  time  that  he  would  never  desert  them  no  matter 

103 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

•what  happened.  In  a  short  time  all  the  villages  were  fairly 
protected,  and  the  Hurons  had  lost  their  timidity  and  were 
almost  eager  for  a  fight.  But  the  Iroquois  did  not  come. 
It  was  not  usual  with  them  to  go  to  war  when  their  enemies 
were  ready. 

It  was  about  1G35  when  de  Brebeuf  sent  down  to  Quebec 
a  detailed  statement  of  the  requirements  for  apostolic  work 
among  the  Hurons.  It  is  too  long  to  reproduce  entirely, 
but  a  digest  of  it  may  serve  as  a  pen  picture  of  de  Brebeuf 
himself  and  of  his  heroic  associates. 

"  Never  make  an  Indian  wait  for  you,"  he  says, 
^'especially  when  there  is  a  question  of  getting  into  a  canoe. 
Be  sure  you  have  your  burning  glass  with  you  to  help  him 
light  his  pipe,  and  also  a  flint  to  start  the  fire  at  night.  Eat 
his  sagamite,  in  spite  of  its  coarseness  and  filth.  It  may 
turn  your  stomach,  but  try  to  look  pleased  while  you  are 
swallowing  the  food.  Take  every  bit  they  offer  you. 
Commonly  it  will  be  little  enough.  Eat  in  the  morning, 
for  ordinarily  the  Huron  has  only  two  meals  a  day.  Go 
barefoot  in  the  canoe  so  as  to  be  lighter,  and  also  to  avoid 
carrying  mud  or  sand  into  it.  In  the  portages  you  can  put 
on  your  shoes.  Do  not  ask  many  questions.  Be  bright 
and  cheerful,  and  do  not  notice  the  grossness  of  your  com- 
panions. 

"  Accept  the  best  place  in  the  wigwam.  The  best  they 
have  is  hard  enough  to  put  up  with.  Do  not  volunteer  to 
help  in  any  work  unless  you  intend  to  continue  to  the  end. 
Do  not  begin  to  paddle  unless  you  have  made  up  your  mind 
to  keep  at  it  all  day.  Be  quite  sure  that  the  savage  will 
retain  the  first  impression  you  make  on  him,  and  impart 
his  feelings  to  his  friends  and  acquaintances.  You  come 
from  the  classic  land  of  politeness,  but  all  the  fine  manners 
that  would  make  you  an  acceptable  member  of  society  in 
France  will  be  pearls  before  swine  here,  and  will  only  have 
you  laughed  at.  You  have  to  be  an  Indian.  Bend  your 
shoulders  to  the  same  burdens  they  bear,  and  you  will  be 

104 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

recognized  as  a  great  man ;  otherwise  not.  Remember  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  true  greatness  of  the  missionary.  Him 
alone  and  His  cross  are  you  to  seek,  in  running  after  these 
people.  With  Him  you  will  find  roses  on  thorns,  sweets 
in  bitterness,  everything  in  nothingness.  I  do  not  want  to 
chill  your  enthusiasm,  but  remember,  in  getting  up  here 
from  Quebec,  you  will  have  enough  to  appall  the  stoutest 
heart." 

He  then  gives  briefly  a  description  of  life  in  a  canoe  and 
in  the  forests.  It  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  it  here,  for  we 
shall  see  it  in  the  reality  as  we  proceed  in  these  sketches. 
*'  When  you  reach  us,"  he  continues,  "  we  will  receive  you 
with  open  arms,  in  the  vilest  dwelling  you  have  any  con- 
ception of.  You  will  sleep  on  a  skin,  and  many  a  night 
you  will  never  close  an  eye  on  account  of  the  vermin  that 
swarm  over  you.  li  you  have  been  a  great  theologian  in 
France,  you  will  have  to  be  a  very  humble  scholar  here,  and 
be  taught  by  an  ignorant  squaw,  or  by  children,  and  you 
will  furnish  them  no  end  of  amusement.  The  Huron 
tongue  will  be  your  St.  Thomas  and  Aristotle,  and  you  will 
be  happy,  if  after  a  great  deal  of  hard  study  you  are  able 
to  stammer  out  a  few  words. 

"  The  winter  is  almost  unendurable.  As  for  your  leisure 
time,  the  savages  Vi'ill  give  you  no  rest  night  or  day,  and 
will  be  particularly  assiduous  at  meal  times.  If  you  have 
anything  special  to  eat.  they  must  have  a  share ;  otherwise 
your  reputation  is  lost.  You  may  expect  to  be  killed  at 
any  moment,  and  your  cabin,  which  is  very  inflammable, 
mav  often  take  fire  either  on  account  of  the  carelessness 
or  malice  of  the  savages.  You  are  responsible  for  fair  and 
foul  weather,  and  if  you  do  not  bring  rain  when  there  is  a 
drought  you  may  be  tomahawked  for  your  ill-success. 
Then  there  are  outside  foes  who  have  to  be  reckoned  with. 
On  the  13th  of  this  month  of  June,  a  dozen  Hurons  were 
killed  at  Contarea,  which  is  only  a  few  days'  journey 
from   this  place ;  and  a  short   time  before,   a  number  of 

105 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Iroquois  were  discovered  in  ambush  quite  close  to  our 
village. 

"  In  France  you  are  surrounded  by  splendid  examples  of 
virtue.  Here  every  one  is  astonished  when  you  speak  of 
God.  Blasphemy  and  obscenity  are  commonly  on  their  lips. 
You  are  often  without  Mass,  and  when  you  succeed  in 
saying  it,  your  cabin  is  full  of  smoke  or  snow.  The  Indians 
never  leave  you  alone,  and  are  continually  yelling  and  shout- 
ing at  the  top  of  their  voice.  They  do  not  know  what  a 
whisper  is.  Once  when  I  was  trying  to  get  one  of  them  to 
speak  lower,  a  cock  crew.  '  Why  don't  you  stop  him  ?  ' 
said  the  Indian.  '  He  is  talking  louder  than  I  am.'  The 
food  will  be  insipid  but  the  gall  and  vinegar  of  our  Blessed 
Saviour  will  make  it  like  honey  on  your  lips.  Climbing 
rocks  and  skirting  cataracts  will  be  pleasant  if  you  think 
of  Calvary ;  and  you  will  be  happy  if  you  have  lost  the 
trail,  or  are  sick  and  dying  with  hunger  in  the  woods. 
You  have  no  head-ache  nor  stomach-ache,  nor  colds,  nor 
catarrh.  It  is  a  mistake  to  protect  yourself  against  the 
cold.  It  is  an  enemy  you  can  make  a  friend  of,  if  you  open 
your  arms  wide  to  him.  We  have  usually  a  store  of  pro- 
visions, chiefly  corn  and  dried  fish,  and  as  we  are  on  the 
shores  of  a  great  lake,  we  can  get  fresh  fish  in  abundance 
when  they  are  in  season;  there  are  berries  and  fruit  also. 
and  they  are  plentiful  and  fairly  good.  But  Indian  corn 
is  sufficiently  nourishing  when  you  get  used  to  it. 

"  There  is  no  danger  for  your  soul,  if  you  bring  into 
this  Huron  country  the  love  and  fear  of  God.  In  fact  I 
find  many  helps  to  perfection.  For  in  the  first  place,  you 
have  only  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  that  makes  it  easy  to 
be  united  with  God.  As  regards  your  spiritual  exercises, 
you  can  attend  to  them,  for  you  have  naught  else  to  do 
but  to  study  Huron  and  talk  with  the  savages.  Of  course 
you  have  nothing  in  the  way  of  externals  to  increase  your 
devotion,  but  God  makes  up  for  it.  Have  we  not  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  in  the  house  ?     Moreover,  we  are  forced 

106 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

to  trust  in  God,  for  there  is  no  other  help  available.  Op- 
portunities for  exercising  charity  abound  among  the  people 
who  are  so  destitute  as  these  Indians.  You  are  obliged  to 
pray,  for  you  are  facing  death  at  every  moment.  Perhaps 
you  fear  for  your  own  chastity  in  such  surroundings.  If 
you  are  on  your  guard,  there  is  no  danger.  The  brutality, 
ignorance,  poverty  and  wretchedness  of  these  people,  whose 
life  is  more  deplorable  than  death,  compel  you  to  see  the 
effects  of  sin  better  than  anything  else  could.  Finally,  if, 
after  contemplating  the  sufferings  that  are  prepared  for 
you,  you  are  ready  to  say:  'Aniplius  Domine'  Still  more 
O  Lord,  then  be  sure  that  you  will  be  rewarded  with  con- 
solations to  such  a  degree  that  you  will  be  compelled  to 
say :  Enough,  O  Lord,  Enough !  "  In  this  description  de 
Brebeuf  reveals  his  own  personality.  It  is  that  of  a  warrior 
panting  with  the  joy  of  battle. 

In  1636  certain  personages  cross  the  scene  at  Ihonitiria, 
who,  perhaps,  deserve  a  passing  mention.  One  was  the 
old  Algonquin  chief,  Le  Borgne  de  I'lsle,  an  appellation 
which  in  irreverent  English  would  have  to  be  translated 
"One  Eye."  The  "Isle"  attached  to  his  name  was  the  Island 
of  Allumettes  in  the  Ottawa,  of  which  mention  has  already 
been  made.  Champlain  knew  the  chief  and  styled  him 
"  the  good  old  Indian,"  but  his  goodness  was,  of  course, 
relative.  He  came  to  see  de  Brebeuf  to  persuade  him  to 
go  down  to  live  at  Allumettes.  "  You  can  get  rich  there," 
he  said.  "  You  will  be  the  principal  interpreter  and  Grand 
Chief." 

On  being  told  that  such  motives  had  no  weight  with  the 
missionaries,  he  resumed :  "  Do  you  know  that  you  are  in 
danger  of  being  murdered  here?  It  was  the  Hurons  who 
killed  Etienne  Brule.  They  also  killed  Father  Viel  and  his 
companion,  and  will  do  the  same  to  you."  But  as  de 
Brebeuf  had  good  reason  to  suspect  that  One  Eye  himself 
was  about  the  worst  enemy  the  missionaries  had,  or  at  best 
that  he  had  his  one  eye  on  business,  and  merely  wanted  to 

107 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

transfer  the  French  trade  to  the  island  by  bringing  the 
mission  there,  he  put  off  the  old  plotter  with  soft  words 
and  fine  presents.  Le  Borgne  died  shortly  after,  but  Father 
Daniel  had  to  wrestle  with  the  old  Indian's  ghost  when 
going  down  the  river  with  the  first  Huron  students  who 
were  brought  to  Quebec. 

Another  arrival  at  Ihonitiria  shows  how  the  Indians  of 
North  America  have  changed  their  habitats  since  those 
times.  A  number  of  Nez  Perces  waited  on  the  great  mis- 
sionary. They  are  now  far  out  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
but  were  in  1635  only  a  few  days'  journey  from  Huronia. 
The  purpose  of  their  coming,  however,  was  not  devotional. 
It  was  to  ask  for  some  Frenchmen  to  help  them  against  the 
Indians  who  lived  near  what  is  now  Green  Bay  in  Wis- 
consin. De  Brebeuf  would  have  gladly  sent  them  priests 
instead  of  soldiers,  but  of  course,  there  were  none  to  be  had. 

One  day  he  was  almost  startled  by  the  arrival  of  young 
Frangois  Marguerie,  who  is  one  of  the  picturesque  figures 
in  Canadian  history.  He  was  then  only  a  lad  of  nineteen, 
and  was  passing  the  winter  with  the  Algonquins  down  at 
the  Isle.  The  missionary  marvelled  at  the  hardihood  of 
the  boy  who  had  adopted  and  apparently  enjoyed  the  wild 
life  of  the  savage,  in  spite  of  the  brutality  with  which  he 
was  treated.  "  If  that  child  can  suffer  so  much  for  sport," 
said  de  Brebeuf,  meditatively,  *'  how  much  should  I  not  do 
for  God !  " 

No  spinner  of  Indian  romances  could  weave  a  stranger 
tale  about  the  adventures  of  this  daring  lad  than  what 
we  read  in  the  veracious  account  of  the  "  Relations "  a 
few  years  later.  In  1641  the  Indians  were  prowling  around 
Three  Rivers,  where  he  and  his  friend  Thomas  Godefroy 
went  out  to  hunt.  They  had  encamped  for  the  night  and 
lighted  their  fire,  but  the  Iroquois  had  followed  the  tracks 
of  their  raquettes.  They  crept  up  stealthily  upon  the  boys  and 
then  with  wild  yells,  rushed  upon  them  with  uplifted  toma- 
hawks to  slay  them.    One  of  the  lads  grasped  his  arquebuse 

108 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

and  aimed  straight  at  the  savage  who  was  making  for  him ; 
but  the  Iroquois  seized  the  barrel.  Fortunately  the  weapon 
missed  fire.  Had  the  Indian  been  killed,  the  boy  and  his 
companion  would  have  been  butchered  on  the  spot.  The 
other  youngster  had  meantime  sprung  to  his  feet  and  drawn 
his  sword,  but  an  arrow  whizzed  under  his  uplifted  arm 
without  hitting  him.  The  savage  who  was  making  for  him 
stumbled  in  the  snow,  and  in  an  instant  he  saw  the  flashing 
blade  of  his  young  antagonist  at  his  thoat.  The  other 
Indians  stood  still.  One  step  to  rescue  their  comrade  would 
have  meant  his  death.  "  What  shall  I  do?  "  said  the  boy  to 
himself,  as  he  stood  above  his  prostrate  foe.  "  If  I  kill 
him  I  shall  be  killed  immediately.  I  was  at  confession 
Sunday,  but  if  I  am  led  into  captivity  and  burned  and  eaten, 
I  shall  have  more  time  to  prepare  for  death."  Better  that 
kind  of  preparation  than  death  just  now,  he  thought,  and 
he  threw  down  his  sword.  The  Indians  were  satisfied,  and 
they  led  the  two  boys  off  into  captivity. 

The  absence  of  Marguerie  and  his  companion  was  soon 
noted  at  Three  Rivers,  and  a  number  of  men  set  out  on 
the  trail  after  the  fleeing  Iroquois.  On  a  scrap  of  paper  fixed 
to  a  stick  in  the  ground  the  pursuers  found  a  scrawl  in 
charcoal,  saying:  "The  Iroquois  caught  us  in  the  woods. 
So  far  they  have  not  harmed  us."  Further  on  there  was 
some  more  writing  on  a  tree  which  the  captives  had  stripped 
of  the  bark.  But  that  was  all.  The  boys  were  carried 
down  to  the  Mohawk.  They  were  treated  well  and  man- 
aged to  communicate  with  the  Dutch  at  Fort  Orange  by 
writing  letters  on  strips  of  bark  or  skins,  and  in  this  way 
secured  clothing  and  other  things  which  they  needed. 

In  the  month  of  April  five  hundred  Mohawks  came  to 
Three  Rivers  to  make  peace,  and  as  the  garrison  was  looking 
out  anxiously  at  the  flotilla  in  the  river  to  discover  the  in- 
tentions of  the  savages,  a  lone  Indian  was  seen  coming  in 
a  canoe  towards  the  shore.  It  was  not  an  Indian,  but  Mar- 
guerie coming  to  plead  for  his  captors.    Peace  was  made  and 

109 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  two  boys  were  restored  to  their  friends.  But  Marguerie 
continued  his  adventurous  hfe,  and  in  1648,  when  he  and 
his  young  friend,  Amiot,  were  out  in  a  canoe  in  the 
river,  they  were  caught  in  a  squall.  Their  frail  bark  was 
torn  apart  by  the  violence  of  the  waves,  and  the  two  lads 
were  drowned.  "  Both  of  them,"  says  the  "  Relation," 
"  were  skilful  and  brave,  and  according  to  the  judgment  of 
every  one  lived  a  life  of  remarkable  innocence."  Of  young 
Amiot  we  shall  have  something  to  say  in  the  sketch  of 
Father  Jerome  Lalemant. 


110 


CHAPTER  V. 
Storms. 

In  1636  de  Brebeuf  had  the  happiness  of  baptizing  the 
first  Iroquois  who  ever  became  a  Christian.  He  was  a 
Seneca  chief  who  had  been  captured  in  a  fight,  and  who 
died  at  the  stake.  Le  Mercier  wrote  a  long  account  of  it, 
and  we  have  condensed  it  in  the  biography  of  JuHen  Gar- 
nier,  who  long  afterwards  became  the  apostle  of  the  Senecas 
of  New  York.  To  repeat  it  here  would  be  an  unnecessary 
piling  up  of  the  hideous  scenes  of  which  we  have  a  surfeit 
in  the  story  of  de  Brebeuf. 

This  conversion  of  the  Seneca  took  place  on  September 
2,  and  one  almost  regrets  that  it  was  not  a  week  or  so  later; 
for  Isaac  Jogues,  whose  blood  was  to  be  shed  for  the  Iro- 
quois, arrived  in  Huronia  on  September  11.  Jogues  was 
not  present  at  that  first  baptism,  but  he  made  up  for  it  by 
converting  a  dozen  or  more  of  those  terrible  savages  in 
the  bitterly  anti-Christian  Huron  town  of  Tenaustaye,  to 
which  he  was  assigned  shortly  after  his  arrival.  His  com- 
ing to  the  mission  was  the  beginning  of  trouble.  He  fell 
sick  almost  immediately  of  a  contagious  disease  of  some 
kind,  and  the  lodge  of  the  missionaries  at  Ihonitiria  was 
soon  a  miniature  hospital.  All  but  one  or  two  of  the 
Fathers  caught  the  sickness,  and  not  only  was  no  medicine 
to  be  had,  but  there  was  scarcely  anything  for  the  sick  or 
well  to  eat.  But  after  a  while  all  recovered,  only,  however, 
to  meet  with  trouble  of  another  kind.  The  malady  had 
invaded  the  Indian  wigwams,  and  the  wildest  disorder  broke 
out.  Orgies  and  incantations  followed  each  other,  day  and 
night,  in  order  to  conjure  away  the  pestilence.  The  Fathers 
were  incessant  in  their  efforts  to  care  for  the  sick,  and 
though  only  convalescent  themselves,  they  travelled  from 

111 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

village  to  village,  from  wigwam  to  wigwam,  helping  the 
sufferers  in  their  bodily  needs,  and  administering  remedies 
which  cured  more  by  mental  suggestion  than  by  any  inherent 
virtue  of  the  drug.  Whenever  the  chance  offered,  of  course, 
they  instructed  and  baptized  the  dying.  Still  the  disease 
was  not  checked.  On  the  contrary  its  ravages  became  more 
appalling.  Month  after  month  passed,  only  to  increase  the 
horrors  around  them.  Hopes  were  entertained  that  the  ap- 
proaching winter  might  bring  some  relief,  but  winter 
lengthened  out  into  spring  and  still  the  pestilence  con- 
tinued. The  pest  was  blamed  on  the  missionaries,  and  they 
were  even  accused  of  causing  it  for  the  purpose  of  destroy- 
ing the  tribe;  the  fact  that  none  of  them  succumbed  giving 
some  semblance  to  the  charge.  Over  and  over  again  they 
were  on  the  point  of  being  massacred  by  the  frantic  people. 
They  were  hooted  at  and  insulted ;  okis  were  suspended  in 
front  of  every  wigwam  to  prevent  them  from  visiting  the 
sick;  threats  were  heard  on  all  sides,  and  the  scowls  of  the 
angry  savages  made  it  clear  that  some  public  action  was 
imminent.  Ihonitiria  was  fast  becoming  a  charnel  house, 
and  Ossossane,  which  had  been  hitherto  so  friendly,  was 
now  bitter  in  its  denunciations  of  the  missionaries.  But  just 
as  the  prospects  were  gloomiest,  a  sudden  change  of  feeling 
manifested  itself.  The  Indians  began  to  listen  to  the  advice 
given  to  them  about  segregating  the  infected ;  they  made 
use  of  the  remedies  given  them,  and,  perhaps,  moved  by 
the  devotion  which  they  had  witnessed  during  those  terrible 
months,  they  began  to  be  mollified  and  to  show  some 
curiosity  about  the  Faith. 

This  fact  is  noteworthy  because  it  was  already  the  year 
1637.  As  the  missions  were  all  destroyed  in  1650,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  entire  period  allotted  by  Divine  Providence 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Hurons  covered  a  period  of  only 
a  dozen  years.  The  time  was  extraordinarily  brief  for  such 
a  gigantic  work,  but  those  wonderful  men  set  themselves 
at  their  task  with  a  determination  that  was  almost  fierce 

112 


JOHx\    DE  BREBEUF. 

in  its  intensity.  They  had  resolved  to  batter  down  the 
fortress  of  the  enemy  at  any  cost.  Some  remarkable  con- 
versions at  that  time  even  made  them  look  forward  hope- 
fully to  a  great  spiritual  triumph. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  first  adult  Huron  in  perfect 
health  was  baptized.  He  was  a  conspicuous  chief,  and  it 
speaks  well  for  his  heroism  and  sincerity  that  he  chose 
those  dark  days  to  declare  his  belief.  He  was  very  properly 
called  Peter,  for  he  was  the  rock  on  which  the  church  of 
Huronia  was  to  be  built.  A  sketch  of  him  will  serve  to 
show  the  capabilities  of  those  poor  savages  for  exalted 
virtue  when  under  the  influence  of  divine  grace. 

He  had  been  under  instructions  for  a  long  time,  but 
though  unusually  intelligent  and  giving  every  assurance  of 
perseverance,  his  baptism  was  deferred.  The  dreadful 
surroundings  made  the  missionaries  apprehensive  of  his  per- 
severance. At  last,  yielding  to  his  reiterated  requests,  con- 
sent was  finally  given.  But  as  it  was  an  event  of  great 
importance,  A  had  to  be  invested  with  more  than  usual 
solemnity.  Trinity  Sunday  was  the  day  chosen  for  the 
ceremony.  The  little  chapel  glittered  with  lights ;  all  the 
greenery  and  flowers  of  the  forest  were  made  use  of  for 
wreaths  and  festoons ;  and  outside  of  the  chapel,  a  graceful 
arbor  was  constructed  to  receive  the  neophyte.  From  the 
midst  of  the  decorations  pictures  of  Our  Lord  and  the 
Blessed  Virgin  looked  out  upon  the  Indians  who  asked  if 
they  were  living  beings.  Then  while  the  music  of  the 
children  filled  the  air,  de  Brebeuf,  in  stole  and  surplice,  ad- 
vanced solemnly  in  the  sanctuary,  and  after  a  fervent  dis- 
course on  the  nature  of  the  ceremonies,  he  poured  upon  the 
bowed  head  of  the  chief  the  waters  of  regeneration.  To 
the  ardent  Frenchmen  it  was  the  scene  of  St.  Remi  and 
Clovis  reenacted  in  the  forests  of  the  New  World. 

Fortunately,  we  are  able  to  follow  Peter  for  some  time 
after  his  baptism.  Father  Pijart,  who  was  going  to  the 
missions,  met  him  at  Three  Rivers,  and  writes  to  Le  Jeune : 

113 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

"  I  beg  of  you  (though  I  feel  I  do  you  wrong  in  suggesting 
what  your  heart  would  naturally  prompt  you  to  do)  to 
receive  our  first  Christian  with  great  consideration.  I  con- 
fess to  you  that  when  I  met  him,  even  before  he  told  me 
he  had  letters  for  me,  I  was  quite  struck  by  his  sweetness 
and  modesty.  I  could  not  help  recalling  what  I  used  to 
read  about  the  first  Christians,  or  of  what  they  tell  us  about 
the  Japanese ;  namely,  that  baptism  worthily  received  confers, 
besides  the  graces  that  necessarily  go  with  it,  an  exterior 
sweetness  in  manner  and  speech,  as  well  as  gentleness  of 
heart.  I  was  so  impressed  when  I  saw  him  that  I  could 
have  kissed  his  feet." 

On  that  journey  down  to  Three  Rivers  this  new  Chris- 
tian took  care  of  every  one  who  fell  sick,  and  instructed 
them  for  baptism.  When  his  nephew  caught  the  con- 
tagion a  Frenchman  said:  "Peter,  look  after  your  rela- 
tive." "  I  pray  for  him,  night  and  day,"  was  the  answer. 
"  Yes,  but  take  care  he  does  not  die  without  instruction." 
"  I  have  already  instructed  him,  and  he  knows  enough  now 
to  be  a  Christian.  If  he  gets  worse,  I  will  call  you  to  bap- 
tize him,  or  will  do  it  myself  if  you  tell  me  the  words  to 
say.  If  he  recovers,  I  will  bring  him  to  the  house  of  the 
Fathers."  At  Three  Rivers  Peter  went  around  with  Pijart 
from  cabin  to  cabin,  caring  for  the  sick  and  instructing 
them  for  baptism,  and  was  instrumental  in  saving  many  a 
soul. 

As  a  council  is  always  held  at  such  gatherings  of  Indians, 
a  request  was  made  to  see  the  governor,  but  he  was  at 
Quebec,  so  the  Chevalier  de  ITsle  represented  him  and  the 
convention  began  its  sessions.  When  the  chiefs  had  taken 
their  usual  places,  the  chevalier,  after  explaining  the  absence 
of  the  governor,  called  up  Peter  to  sit  beside  him.  The 
Indian  was  quite  amazed  at  the  distinction,  but  did  as  he 
was  told.  Presents  were  displayed,  speeches  were  made, 
and  then  the  chevalier  reproached  the  Indians  for  not 
receiving  the  Truth  which  the  missionaries  had  taught  them. 

114 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

"What  do  you  think?"  he  asked,  turning  to  Peter. 
Alodestly  and  with  great  dignity  the  convert  spoke  to  his 
tribe,  approving  of  the  censure  uttered  by  the  governor, 
and  imploring  his  people  to  embrace  Christianity. 

There  was  another  meeting  and  Peter  again  sat  next  to 
the  chevalier.  A  great  picture  of  Our  Lord  was  handed 
to  him,  and  he  held  it  up  before  his  people  and  made  a 
discourse  that  caused  the  happy  missionaries  to  leap  for 
joy.  "  It  was  better,"  they  said,  "  than  even  Nicolet  could 
have  done."  "  When  we  are  in  battle,"  he  said,  "  this 
picture  will  be  held  up  before  us  a  standard.  Can  we 
doubt  that  we  shall  prevail  over  enemies?"  His  own 
people  looked  at  him  in  amazement.  They  had  never  heard 
such  words  from  the  lips  of  a  Huron ;  "  and  yet,"  says  the 
"  Relation,"  "  this  man,  a  short  time  before,  had  been  eating 
human  flesh." 

Nor  was  he  a  mere  maker  of  speeches.  He  was  an  ab- 
solutely earnest  man.  He  assisted  at  all  the  religious 
services,  and  prayed  long  and  fervently  after  they  were 
over.  Unlike  the  other  Indians,  who  were  always  clamoring 
for  food,  Peter  never  asked  for  anything.  He  had  often 
said  to  de  Brebeuf  up  at  the  Lake :  "  I  am  becoming  a 
Christian,  not  for  my  body  but  my  soul."  Before  leaving 
his  country  he  went  to  confession  and  communion,  and 
*'  though  I  was  astonished,"  says  Pi j art,  "  that  he  was 
allowed  to  approach  the  Holy  Table  so  soon,  my  astonish- 
ment vanished  when  I  came  to  know  him.  I  never  saw  in 
any  savage  what  I  saw  in  him.  I  used  to  study  the  others 
to  try  if  I  could  discover  any  traces  of  the  dove-like  sim- 
plicity which  I  observed  in  him,  but  without  success.  He 
had  a  certain  exterior  modesty  that  quite  impressed  you. 
Ten  such  Indians  would  convert  the  country." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  do  not  find  Peter  later  on 
in  the  "  Relations,"  but  perhaps  the  poor  fellow  was  soon 
stretched  out  dead  on  the  war  path,  or  was  tortured  in  some 
distant   Iroquois  town ;   for  these  Christian   Hurons  were 

115 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

splendid  fighters.  His  conversion  inspired  the  missionaries 
with  the  greatest  hopes  for  the  future.  Their  joy,  however^ 
was  short  lived.  Another  storm  broke  upon  them  with  re- 
doubled fury,  and  the  cause  of  it  goes  to  show  how  men 
resemble  each  other  all  the  world  over. 

A  report  was  circulated  that  the  Fathers  had  a  dead 
child  in  the  house,  whom  they  had  captured  in  the  woods 
and  stabbed  to  death  with  bodkins.  It  recalls  the  old  Roman 
distortion  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Blessed  Eucharist,  and 
shows  us  that  the  tribes  of  the  Tiber  were  gifted  with  no 
higher  intelligence  on  this  point  than  the  tribes  of  Lake 
Huron.  Others  averred  that  there  was  a  huge  serpent 
in  the  priests'  lodge,  and  that  from  out  the  barrel  of  gun- 
powder, where  he  lay  coiled,  he  breathed  pestilence  on  the 
people.  A  streamer  on  one  of  the  branches  of  a  tree, 
placed  there  to  tell  the  w^ay  the  wind  blew,  was  also  thought 
to  have  a  sinister  purpose.  It  told  the  pestilence  where  to 
go.  It  was  Peter  who  repeated  to  the  Fathers  these  stories 
which  he  had  heard  right  and  left  among  his  people. 

Something  still  more  ridiculous  added  fuel  to  the  flames. 
It  is  almost  inconceivable,  but  it  is  vouched  for  as  sober 
truth : — a  scare  about  Jesuit  machinations.  One  is  used 
to  such  alarms  among  civilized  people,  but  they  are  hardly 
conceivable  among  red  Indians.  It  appears,  however,  that 
a  band  of  Hurons  had  been  down  at  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
and  had  heard  at  Fort  Orange  that  the  Jesuits  had  been 
expelled  from  every  country  of  Europe;  that  they  were 
a  menace  to  all  governments,  etc.  Excited  by  these  reports 
the  warriors  hurried  home  and  succeeded  in  creating  a 
universal  terror  in  the  tribe.  They  were  more  afraid  than 
when  the  pestilence  was  raging. 

Although  Martin  says  the  calumny  came  from  ''  Ics  puri- 
tains  de  Fort  Orange,"  the  assertion  may  be  questioned.  It 
is  true,  no  doubt,  that  at  a  much  later  period,  the  Dutch  at 
Fort  Orange  were  accustomed  to  ridicule  the  Mohawks  for 
wearing  crosses  and  medals,  but  in  the  early  days  they 

116 


JOHX    DE  BREBEUF. 

-showed  nothing  but  kindness  to  the  missionaries.  In  fact, 
Jogues  and  Le  Moyne,  who  were  in  Huronia  when  this 
charge  was  made,  told  later  of  the  kindHness  of  the 
Dutch.  Moreover,  in  the  "  Relations  "  of  1639,  Le  Jeune 
attributes  the  trouble  to  quite  another  source.  He  says : 
*'  It  came  from  the  savages  who  were  in  communication 
v/ith  certain  Insular  Europeans  who  are  established  on  the 
coast  towards  the  south,  and  who  have  always  been  equally 
bitter  against  the  Church  and  the  Society." 

Whatever  the  origin,  the  excitement  was  sufficient  to  con- 
vince de  Brebeuf  that  a  general  massacre  was  imminent. 
He  therefore  asked  for  a  council.  It  was  granted,  and  a 
great  crowd  packed  the  lodge  at  Agoutenec.  He  addressed 
the  assembly  with  his  usual  eloquence  and  was  apparently 
making  a  favorable  impression,  when  some  one  in  the 
audience  stupidly  or  designedly  invited  the  sachems  and 
braves  to  a  banquet.  Such  a  proposition  invariably  over- 
powers an  Indian,  and  the  convention  immediately  broke 
up,  leaving  the  priest  in  a  ridiculous  and  discredited  position. 
On  the  -ith  of  August  another  council  was  convoked,  and 
then  the  purpose  of  the  Indians  revealed  itself.  De  Brebeuf 
was  invited  to  assist,  but  to  throw  him  off  his  guard, 
nothing  but  the  general  policy  of  the  tribe  was  discussed 
at  the  opening  session ;  and  towards  the  end  some  irrelevant 
questions  were  asked  about  the  firmament,  the  movement 
of  the  sun  and  stars,  all  of  which  he  explained  as  he  had 
often  done  before. 

The  next  meeting  was  held  late  at  night.  An  old  chief, 
who  was  nearly  blind,  presided.  He  opened  the  proceed- 
ings by  reciting,  in  a  lugubrious  tone,  all  the  woes  of  the 
tribe,  and  then  invited  the  sachems  to  explain  the  cause. 
No  one  spoke.  They  sat  in  gloomy  silence,  broken  only 
by  long  drawn  sighs  and  groans.  The  groans,  however, 
soon  began  to  grow  more  frequent,  and  finally  turned 
into  wild  cries  and  menaces  of  death,  and  then,  when  the 
feelings  of  the  assemblv  were  worked  into  a  fury,  the  orators 

117 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

began  their  harangues  denouncing  the  Blackrobes  and  call- 
ing for  their  blood.  In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  de  Brebeuf 
arose,  and  his  eloquence  soon  silenced  the  clamor.  But 
after  a  while,  they  began  to  call  for  the  mysterious  spells 
which  he  was  supposed  to  possess.  "  Give  us  those  okis, 
and  no  harm  will  be  done  to  you."  "  We  have  no  such 
things,"  he  replied,  but  he  was  answered  with  wild  cries  of 
"liar;"  "kill  him,"  etc.  "If  you  do  not  believe  me," 
he  retorted,  "  take  all  our  possessions  and  pitch  them  into 
the  lake."  "  That  is  always  the  way  with  sorcerers,"  they 
shouted.  "What  else  is  destroying  us?"  "It  is  the  ig- 
norance and  stupidity  which  you  show  in  the  way  you  treat 
your  sick,"  he  answered,  and  he  explained  to  them  the 
nature  of  contagious  diseases,  passing  afterwards  to  the 
higher  reasons  of  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty,  who  was 
afiflicting  them  for  their  sins. 

It  was  past  midnight  when  the  meeting  broke  up,  and  as 
he  was  returning  in  the  darkness  to  his  lodge,  a  savage 
walking  near  him  fell  dead  at  his  feet.  A  tomahawk  had 
crushed  his  skull.  "  Was  that  for  me  ?  "  he  coolly  asked 
the  murderer.  "No;  it  was  for  that  miserable  sorcerer." 
As  de  Brebeuf  was  in  the  same  category,  he  was  uncertain 
whether  the  savage  had  mistaken  his  man,  or  merely  wanted 
to  furnish  an  object  lesson  for  the  "  Great  Sorcerer  "  him- 
self. A  few  weeks  followed  full  of  terror,  when  another 
council  was  convened  at  Ossossane.  De  Brebeuf,  who  was 
at  Ihonitiria,  hurried  over  to  the  scene  of  danger,  but  as 
only  a  few  chiefs  had  remained  faithful  to  him,  he  was  made 
aware  that  all  hope  was  lost.  The  doom  of  the  missionaries 
was  sealed. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  wrote  his  famous  letter 
to  the  Superior  at  Quebec.  It  was  dated  Ossossane,  October 
28,  1G37,  and  says:  "We  are  probably  about  to  pour  out 
our  blood  and  to  make  the  sacrifice  of  our  lives.  Appar- 
ently our  good  Master,  Jesus  Christ,  has  deigned  to  accept 
this  sacrifice  from  me  in  expiation  of  my  great  and  num- 

118 


JOHN   DE  BR£BEUF. 

berless  sins,  and  as  a  reward  for  the  great  and  loving  work 
which  our  Fathers  have  done  here." 

He  admits,  however,  that  he  was  not  quite  convinced  that 
such  would  be  the  issue,  first  because  of  his  own  unworthiness 
of  the  blessing  of  martyrdom,  and  secondly  because  of  the 
need  which  at  least  some  of  the  Hurons  have  of  the  services 
of  the  priests  "  Whatever  the  end  may  be,"  he  continues, 
"  our  only  worry  is  about  the  unhappy  moral  condition 
of  the  savages,  whose  wickedness  thus  closes  on  themselves 
the  gates  of  salvation.  However,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
bear  it  patiently,  regarding  it  as  a  singular  favor  to  us  to 
be  thus  called  to  suffer  something  for  the  love  of  God. 
We  are  now  beginning  to  appreciate  the  happiness  of  belong- 
ing to  the  Society ;  and  we  bless  God  for  having  chosen  us 
among  so  many  more  worthy  than  ourselves,  to  help  Him 
to  carry  his  cross  in  this  country.  May  His  holy  will  be 
done  in  all  things.  If  He  wishes  us  to  die,  how  happy  we 
shall  be !  If  He  wishes  to  reserve  us  for  other  labors,  may  He 
likewise  be  blessed.  But  if  you  hear  that  He  has  crowned 
our  little  work  in  these  parts,  or,  at  least,  our  desires,  thank 
Him.  It  is  for  Him  that  we  wish  to  live  and  die.  If  any 
one  survives,  I  have  made  arrangements  about  what  is  to 
be  done.  Those  who  are  spared  are  to  seek  shelter  among 
the  most  friendly  Indians.  Peter,  our  first  Christian,  will 
take  care  of  the  articles  of  the  chapel,  and  will,  no  doubt, 
do  what  he  can  to  save  the  Huron  dictionary,  and  whatever 
we  have  written  about  the  language.  As  for  myself,  if 
God  gives  me  the  grace  to  go  to  heaven,  I  will  pray  for  my 
poor  Indians,  and  will  not  forget  your  Reverence. 

**  In  time  and  eternity  we  are  your  most  humble  and 
affectionate  servants  in  Christ, 

"  Jean  de  Brebeuf, 

"  FranQois  Joseph  Le  Mercier, 

"  Pierre  Chastelain, 

"  Charles   Garnier, 

"  Paul  Ragueneau." 
119 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

There  is  a  precious  postcript  to  this  epistle.  It  reads  as 
follows :  "  I  have  left  in  the  residence  of  St.  Joseph,  Fathers 
Pierre  Pijart  and  Isaac  Jogues,  who  are  in  the  same  dis- 
position of  mind  as  ourselves." 

The  letter  is  thoroughly  characteristic  of  de  Brebeuf. 
There  is  no  undue  exaltation  in  it  about  martyrdom.  In- 
deed, he  is  so  used  to  the  fickleness  of  the  Indian  that  he 
discounts  the  likelihood  of  their  carrying  out  their  purpose. 
He  is  not  in  the  least  alarmed  at  the  approach  of  death,  but 
deliberately  makes  preparations  for  the  safety  of  the  possible 
survivors ;  and  he  is  almost  amusingly  solicitous  about  his 
dictionary  and  grammar.  Evidently  he  considered  death  by 
torture  only  as  a  little  incident  in  a  missionary's  career,  and 
he  set  to  work  to  make  arrangements  that  when  the  next 
incumbents  arrived  they  would  have  means  of  study  at 
hand. 

As  it  was  admitted  on  all  hands  that  death  was  certain, 
Indian  etiquette  called  for  a  feast,  and  it  was  announced. 
As  on  all  such  occasions,  the  cabin  was  packed  with  hungry 
savages  eager  to  see  how  the  palefaces  would  conduct  them- 
selves in  presence  of  death  and  torture,  but  perhaps  they 
were  more  eager  to  satisfy  their  voracious  appetites  in  dis- 
posing of  the  funeral  baked  meats  which  the  victims  had 
to  supply.  When  the  guests  had  gorged  themselves  to  their 
heart's  content,  de  Brebeuf  arose.  He  did  not  extol  his 
own  prowess  or  recount  his  exploits,  or  defy  their  tortures 
in  good  Indian  fashion,  but  he  spoke  to  them  of  God,  of 
the  soul,  of  heaven  and  hell.  His  eloquence,  however,  fell 
upon  deaf  ears.  They  listened  to  him  sullenly;  no  one  gave 
the  usual  grunt  of  approval,  and  when  he  had  finished 
they  silently  withdrew  to  their  wigwams.  Apparently  the 
last  act  of  the  tragedy  was  soon  to  take  place.  But  for 
some  reason  or  other,  perhaps  because  the  old  men  had 
succeeded  in  convincing  the  hotheads  that  the  murder  of 
the  missionaries  would  certainly  be  avenged  by  the  French, 
the  execution  of  the  sentence  was  deferred.     A  temporary 

120 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

lull  succeeded,  and  though  tomahawks  were  occasionally 
tiourished  over  the  heads  of  the  priests,  and  sticks  and  stones 
emphasized  the  disHke  which  the  savages  entertained  for 
Christianity,  it  was  found  possible  to  visit  the  cabins,  and 
even  to  preach  to  some  extent,  without  a  constant  dread  of 
being  killed.  By  the  following  year  public  opinion  had 
so  much  changed  in  its  tone,  that  the  missionaries  were  able 
to  effect  a  permanent  establishment  in  the  village  of  Tenau- 
stayce,  that  had  been  so  far  the  most  malignant  in  its  enmity 
to  the  Faith.  Their  entrance  into  this  place  marks  an  im- 
portant change  in  the  geography  of  the  mission  sites. 

The  population  of  Ihonitiria  had  been  so  decimated  by 
the  pestilence  that  de  Brebeuf  determined  to  abandon  the 
place  altogether,  and  to  form  a  residence  elsewhere.  The 
most  populous  town  was  Tenaustayoe,  but  it  was  the  most 
unfriendly.  Nevertheless  he  boldly  went  over  and  asked 
permission  of  the  chiefs  to  build  a  house  there.  To  the 
amazement  of  everyone  not  only  a  permission  but  a  welcome 
was  given,  and  so  on  June  25,  1C38,  he  and  his  companions 
bade  farewell  to  Ihonitiria  which  thenceforward  disappears 
from  history.  The  new  post  was  called  St.  Joseph's  11. 
Ihonitiria  had  been  also  dedicated  to  the  holy  Patriarch, 
and  hence  it  is  known  in  history  as  St.  Joseph's  I. 

Tenaustayoe  figures  largely  in  the  records  of  the  mis- 
sions, although  almost  exactly  ten  years  afterwards  it  went 
up  in  fire  over  the  bloody  corpse  of  Anthony  Daniel.  Many 
events  occurred,  meantime,  inside  its  palisade,  which  give 
interest  to  its  history.  Jogues  and  Pijart  were  in  one  of 
the  wigwams  when  the  Fathers  were  signing  their  letter 
of  death  in  1637,  at  Ossossane,  and  in  its  brief  life  in  spite 
of  its  pagan  population,  it  produced  many  splendid  examples 
of  heroic  Christianity.  Its  first  great  convert,  however, 
was  not  a  native  Indian,  but  an  Iroquois  who  was,  like  the 
first  Huron,  given  the  name  of  Peter  at  his  baptism.  The 
manner  of  his  death  may  be  set  forth  here  as  illustrative 
of  the  character  of  the  people  who  were  being  Christianized, 

121 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

but  the  nervous  reader  would  do  well  to  pass  to  a  few  pages 
further  on. 

Peter  was  an  Oneida,  and  had  wandered  up  near 
Huronia  with  no  warlike  purpose,  but  merely  for  hunt- 
ing and  trade.  Not  meeting  with  success,  he  joined  one  of 
the  Iroquois  war  parties  that  had  come  up  subsequently. 
The  meeting  was  accidental  but  the  accident  brought  him 
to  heaven.  The  invaders  were  caught  by  the  Hurons,  and 
the  method  of  capture  may  serve  as  an  example  of  the 
military  tactics  of  the  aborigines. 

Some  of  the  Huron  scouts  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  Iroquois,  and  one  of  them,  w^ith  apparent  inadvertence, 
let  it  be  known  that  their  people  were  few  in  numbers  and 
could  easily  be  overpowered.  Forthwith  the  invaders  threw 
up  defences  in  the  woods  in  order  to  have  a  regular  battle, 
but  next  morning  they  found  themselves  surrounded  by  an 
army.  Enraged  at  the  trick  that  had  been  played  upon 
them,  they  murdered  the  Huron  deceiver  and  prepared  for 
flight.  "  Not  I,"  said  Peter ;  "  the  clouds  are  not  dark 
enough  to  hide  the  shame  I  w^ould  feel  in  avoiding  the  fight.'* 
Others  took  heart  after  this  speech,  but  they  were  quickly 
overpowered  and  led  off  to  Tenaustayce.  There  Peter  was 
instructed  and  baptized.  But,  of  course,  baptism  did  not 
interfere  with  the  pleasure  of  his  foes.  He  was  to  be 
tortured. 

The  morning  of  the  execution  arrived.  Standing  at 
Peter's  side  was  another  Iroquois,  who  had  also  been 
brought  to  the  Faith.  In  the  midst  of  his  sufferings  he 
seemed  to  be  w^eakening  under  the  agony,  but  Peter's  words 
sustained  him,  when  suddenly  he  died.  Enraged  at  being 
thus  defrauded  of  half  their  expected  sport,  the  mob  threw 
themselves  with  the  fury  of  fiends  on  Peter,  determining 
to  make  up  for  the  loss  by  the  pain  they  were  to  inflict  on 
him.  They  began  their  work  by  tearing  off  his  scalp. 
Rising  to  his  feet  after  undergoing  what  would  have  left 
any  other  man  helpless,  he  saw  that  he  was  alone  on  the 

122 


mutmimtmmittmmnm 


ynf 


■WM"WM«»NiaNMMimHw 


AN  IxNDlAN  CHIEF. 
(Trom  the  Maisonneuve  Monument.) 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

platform  and  he  determined  to  fight.  Better  to  die  that 
way,  he  thought,  than  by  progressive  butchery.  Though 
his  hands  were  all  bloody  and  mangled,  he  seized  a  blazing 
torch  and  stood  for  a  moment  defying  the  foe.  Cries  of 
rage  rent  the  air  at  this  act  of  unparalleled  audacity.  The 
Hurons  rushed  at  him  with  fire  brands  and  hissing  red  hot 
irons  in  their  hands,  but  he  beat  them  back  with  his  terrible 
weapon  and  felled  everyone  who  approached,  dodging  mean- 
time the  missiles  that  were  flung  at  him  from  a  distance 
by  his  infuriated  foes.  He  tore  away  the  ladder  that  led 
up  to  the  platform,  and  hurled  back  the  blazing  wood  upon 
his  assailants.  Showers  of  fire  and  ashes  fell  on  him  but 
he  avoided  them  as  best  he  could,  springing  aside  meantime 
from  the  torches  that  were  thrust  through  the  fissures  of 
the  beams  beneath  his  feet. 

The  battle  went  on  with  redoubled  fury  on  both  sides 
when  a  misstep  flung  him  to  the  ground.  They  pounced 
upon  him  like  tigers,  and  dragging  him  along  the  inter- 
vening space  pitched  him  into  the  fire.  But  he  rose  in  the 
midst  of  the  flames,  his  body  dripping  with  gore,  which  the 
ashes  thickened  on  his  wounds.  Out  of  the  burning  mass 
he  seized  two  faggots  and  with  these  weapons  kept  off  the 
foe.  As  no  one  dared  to  come  near  him,  he  started  on  a 
run  to  set  fire  to  the  village,  but  before  he  reached  it  a  block 
of  wood  felled  him  to  the  ground  and  his  assailants  were 
again  on  top  of  him,  hacking  off  his  hands  and  feet,  piling 
blazing  torches  around  him  and  rolling  a  burning  log  on  him 
to  keep  him  down.  But  with  a  superhuman  effort  he  flung 
it  off,  and  wriggling  out  of  the  fire  started  on  his  mangled 
stumps  to  attack  his  foes.  They  fled  horror-stricken.  Even 
they  had  never  witnessed  anything  so  ghastly.  Finally  a 
warrior  crept  up  behind  him,  and  cut  off  his  head.  Such 
were  the  primitive  Hurons ;  they  were  more  like  demons 
than  men. 

In  spite  of  all  this  fiendishness,  however,  many  notable 
conversions  were  made.     Most  remarkable  of  all  was  that 

133 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

of  Joseph  Chiwatenwa,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  elsewhere. 
Indeed,  the  general  conditions  had  so  improved  that  the 
priests  could  not  only  move  around  unmolested  among  the 
people,  but  were  able  to  extend  their  field  of  labors  to  the 
neighboring  tribes.  Thus  we  find  de  Brebeuf  and  Jogues 
among  the  Petuns  to  the  west,  and  though  they  were  not 
able  to  eft"ect  much,  they  at  least  prepared  the  way  for  work 
in  the  future.  An  expedition  was  also  planned  for  the 
Neutral  country. 


124 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Huron  Characteristics. 

Before  going  among  the  Neutral  savages  de  Brebeuf  put 
down  in  writing  a  summary  of  his  observations  about  the 
character  and  customs  of  the  Huron  Indians.  While  being 
an  extremely  valuable  document  from  an  ethnological  point 
of  view,  it  enables  us  to  form  some  idea  of  the  difficulties 
with  which  the  missionaries  had  to  contend  in  the  work  of 
converting  this  degraded  people.  It  is  found  in  the  '*  Re- 
lation "  of  1G36.     We  give  here  only  a  few  extracts. 

It  begins  with  a  summary  of  the  character  of  the  lan- 
guage, but  de  Brebeuf  reminds  the  Fathers  to  whom  he  is 
writing  that  it  is  only  a  foretaste  of  the  grammar  and  dic- 
tionary which  had  been  begun  ten  years  before.  We  omit 
many  of  the  scientific  details,  which  are  too  technical  for 
the  general  reader,  though  one  or  two  of  them  may  be  of 
interest. 

"  In  the  first  place  the  letters  B.  R  L.  M.  P.  X.  Z,"  he 
says,  "  are  unknown  to  the  Hurons,  but  they  have  one  which 
we  do  not  possess.  It  is  somewhat  like  the  Greek  KJii. 
They  have  no  labials,  and  consequently  their  mouths  are 
always  open,  and  it  gives  them  a  most  unpleasant  look 
when  they  are  talking.  You  can  scarcely  hear  them  when 
they  speak  low.  As  they  have  neither  religion,  nor  virtue, 
nor  science,  nor  any  idea  of  discipline,  they  have  consequently 
no  words  to  express  such  things,  so  that  we  are  at  our  wits 
ends  to  get  them  to  understand  our  explanations  of  Chris- 
tianity. They  are  very  fond  of  compound  words,  and  that 
gives  the  key  to  their  language.  Their  genders  are  like 
ours,  but  they  resemble  the  Greeks  in  the  use  of  numbers, 
They  also  employ  a  relative  declension  which  always  intro- 
duces  the   personal   pronoun.     All   their   words   are   con- 

125 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

jugated ;  not  only  the  verbs,  but  even  the  nouns  and 
adjectives.  A  relative  noun  always  exacts  a  possessive 
pronoun,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  get  them  to  say 
'  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.'  We 
have  to  resort  to  this  formula :  '  In  the  name  of  Our  Father, 
and  His  Son,  and  their  Holy  Ghost.'  "  He  wants  to  know 
if  that  change  is  allowable. 

"  Another  curious  difficulty,"  he  adds,  "  is  that  you  can- 
not say — '  Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven,'  without  in- 
sulting them.  The  savages  are  sentimental.  To  speak  to 
any  of  them  about  a  dead  father  or  mother  or  husband 
would  put  them  in  a  rage.  Thus  the  expression  '  Father 
who  art  in  heaven  '  is  an  insinuation  which  they  do  not 
like.  The  same  difficulty  arises  when  you  tell  them  to  honor 
their  father  and  mother  if  the  old  people  are  dead. 

"  They  have  verbs  for  animate  and  others  for  inanimate 
things;  they  vary  the  tenses  as  often  as  the  Greeks  do,  and 
besides  the  singular,  plural  and  dual  numbers  they  have  a 
double  first  person  for  the  two  latter.  They  have  also  in 
common  with  other  American  languages  a  double  conjuga- 
tion, one  simple  and  absolute,  the  other  reciprocal ;  that  is, 
always  terminating  in  some  person  or  thing. 

"  What  I  rarely  find,"  he  says,  "  is  a  feminine  conjuga- 
tion, at  least  in  the  third  person  singular  and  plural."  He 
adds  somewhat  wittily  that  "  the  principal  distinction  be- 
tween the  masculine  and  feminine  conjugation  is  the  absence 
of  the  letter  H,  in  which  the  masculine  abounds.  It  is, 
perhaps,  to  let  the  women  understand  that  there  is  to  be 
nothing  harsh  in  their  words  or  their  manners,  and  that 
the  law  of  mercy  would  show  itself  on  their  tongues  in 
accordance  with  the  saying  of  the  Wise  Man :  '  Lex 
dementiae  ejus.'  This  is  enough  for  the  present  unless  one 
wants  to  know  something  of  their  style.  They  use  com- 
parisons, time-words,  and  proverbs  very  frequently.  Thus, 
for  example,  when  they  see  a  fat  man  they  say  '  the  star  is 
falling,'    because    there    is    a    belief    among    them    that 

126 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

once  a  star  fell  from  heaven  and  was  turned  into  a  fat 
goose." 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  scholarship  implied  in  his  account 
and  he  almost  deserves  literary  canonization  for  having 
built  up  a  grammar  in  a  wigwam,  or  in  the  woods,  from  the 
language  of  a  people  who  had  no  books  or  writings  to  help 
him. 

"  In  religious  matters,"  he  tells  us,  "  there  is  some  appear- 
ance of  their  having  once  had  an  idea  of  the  true  God, 
but  their  vices  and  degradation  have  pretty  well  obscured  it. 
They  boast  of  their  heavenly  origin,  and  trace  it  back  to 
a  woman  named  Aataentsic.  They  will  tell  you  that  one 
day  seeing  her  dog  pursuing  a  bear  she  joined  in  the  chase. 
The  animals  fell  into  a  hole  and  she,  following  after,  found 
herself  in  the  sea,  which  dried  up  and  became  the  earth. 
Another  version  has  it  that  Aataentsic's  husband  was  sick, 
and  wanted  some  of  the  fruit  that  the  denizens  of  heaven 
usually  eat.  She  proceeded  to  gather  it  in  Indian  fashion 
by  cutting  down  the  tree,  which,  when  it  fell,  tumbled  down 
to  earth  and  of  course  she  went  with  it.  A  tortoise  seeing 
her  on  the  way  held  a  council  of  the  animal  world  as  she 
was  descending,  and  then  scurried  to  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean  from  which  he  brought  up  some  mud  on  his  back. 
On  that  Aataentsic  alighted,  and  the  patch  of  mud  expanded 
into  the  present  earth." 

All  this  to  us  moderns  sounds  like  a  fancy  of  Uncle 
Remus,  but  the  Huron  rose  no  higher  than  that  in  his  cos- 
mogony. De  Brebeuf  suggests  that  the  idea  of  the  tree 
whose  fruit  the  heavenly  ones  used  to  eat  is  a  reminiscence 
of  a  primitive  revelation.  They  seemed  not  to  realize  the  ab- 
surdity of  the  story,  and  when  asked  who  made  Aataentsic, 
and  the  dog,  and  the  bear,  and  the  tree,  and  the  hole,  the 
Huron  theologians  gave  it  up.  They  had  also  a  distorted 
version  of  the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel,  and  singularly  enough 
their  Cain  or  lousheka  became  the  benefactor  of  the  race 
by  giving  it  beautiful  rivers  and  lakes.     He  accomplished 

127 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

that  feat  by  piercing  the  armpit  of  a  huge  toad  which  held 
all  the  waters  captive.  He  also  brought  fire  on  the  earth, 
and  let  out  all  the  animals  from  a  vast  cavern  where  they 
were  kept.  "  Perhaps,"  says  de  Brebeuf,  "  there  is  a  vestige 
in  that  of  what  we  are  told  in  Scripture,  about  the  animals 
having  been  brought  before  Adam."  As  they  escaped, 
lousheka  wounded  each  beast  slightly,  so  that  it  might  not 
run  too  fast,  but  he  missed  the  fox.  He  seems  also 
to  have  been  a  sort  of  Ceres  who  gave  plenty  to  the  fields. 
He  is  said  to  appear  sometimes  to  men,  but  the  missionary 
never  could  find  any  one  who  saw  him. 

To  the  soul  they  gave  different  names  when  they  wanted 
to  describe  it  as  thinking,  reasoning,  deliberating,  seeking 
an  object,  separated  from  the  body,  etc.  It  was  material, 
divisible,  clinging  to  the  corpse  after  death,  and  had  a  head 
and  members  like  the  body.  It  preceded  the  body  to  the 
funeral,  and  lingered  about  the  cemetery  until  the  decennial 
feast  of  the  dead;  it  walked  the  streets  at  night;  entered  the 
cabins  and  eat  what  was  left  in  the  pot.  After  the  decennial 
feast  they  imagined  the  souls  went  west  to  the  setting  sun, 
except  those  of  old  men  and  babies,  whose  legs  are  not 
strong  enough  for  the  journey.  Such  spirits  lingered 
around  the  village,  and  their  voices  were  heard  at  times. 
In  the  far  west  it  was  supposed  that  there  were  villages  of 
souls,  each  tribe  having  its  own,  but  those  who  died  in  war 
had  a  place  apart.  The  Hurons  declared  that  those  ghostly 
dwelling  places  were  toward  the  Petun  country,  and  to  get 
to  them  they  had  to  pass  on  a  well-beaten  trail,  near  a  great 
rock  which  is  known  in  the  country  as  Ecaregoniondi.  At 
the  time  de  Brebeuf  wrote,  it  was  daubed  all  over  with 
rude  pictures.  The  souls  in  passing  it  met  a  mysterious 
being  who  pierced  the  skulls  of  the  dead,  took  out  the  brain 
and  kept  it  in  a  gourd.  Around  this  superstition  were  woven 
all  sorts  of  gruesome,  but  at  times  poetic  stories,  about 
people  travelling  to  the  setting  sun  in  search  of  the  souls 
they  loved,  not  finding  them,  and  the  like. 

128 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

They  invoked  the  earth,  and  rivers  and  lakes,  the  dan- 
gerous rocks  and  particularly  the  sky,  all  of  which  according 
to  them  were  instinct  with  life  and  were  the  abodes  of  some 
powerful  beings.  They  not  only  prayed  but  offered  sac- 
rifices, mostly  tobacco,  both  for  impetration  and  propitiation. 
They  fancied  the  sky  was  angry  when  any  one  was  frozen 
to  death  or  was  drowned,  and  a  sacrifice  in  such  an  event 
was  obligatory.  "But  my  God!"  exclaims  de  Brebeuf, 
"what  a  sacrifice!  or  rather,  what  a  butchery!  We  saw 
one  of  these  ceremonies.  When  the  corpse  was  found  the 
whole  country  was  interested  in  the  festival  that  followed  the 
discovery.  They  carried  the  body  to  the  cemetery,  and 
there  a  number  of  young  braves  chosen  by  the  family  stood 
near  the  dead  man  clutching  their  knives,  and  waiting  for 
the  signal.  The  guardian  of  the  corpse  then  traced  in  char- 
coal on  the  body  of  the  deceased  the  parts  to  be  cut  out. 
Whereupon  the  executioners  flung  themselves  upon  the  car- 
cass and  slashed  off  the  portions  that  were  most  decayed. 
That  being  done  they  eviscerated  the  corpse  and  threw  the 
entrails  with  the  other  separated  portions  into  the  fire  and 
afterwards  placed  the  mangled  remains  in  the  grave.  Mean- 
time the  squaws  were  running  about  encouraging  the  braves 
to  do  their  work  and  putting  grains  of  porcelain  into  the 
mouths  of  the  butchers.  Sometimes  even  the  mother  of  the 
dead  man  was  one  of  them.  All  bathed  in  tears  and  howling 
out  her  lamentations,  she  urged  on  these  ghouls  in  their 
work.  When  all  was  over,  the  sky  was  supposed  to  be 
appeased,  but  if  anything  was  omitted  more  trouble  was 
expected." 

He  tells  us  that  there  were  certain  rocks  of  which  they 
stood  in  awe,  and  that  on  the  way  to  Quebec  there  were 
several  which  had  their  clefts  stuffed  with  offerings  of  to- 
bacco. Fish  were  supposed  to  have  sense,  and  also  deer 
and  elk.  Fishing  nets  were  sacred,  and  when  the  dead  are 
brought  into  a  cabin  the  nets  were  removed. 

The  dream   was  their  great  superstition.     Whatever  it 

^  129 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

enjoined  must  be  executed  at  any  cost,  and  instantaneously. 
Nothing  in  business,  hunting,  fishing,  dancing,  playing, 
gambling,  war,  travelling  was  done  except  in  obedience  to 
a  dream,  and  everybody  eagerly  assisted  the  dreamer. 
Sometimes  if  he  was  very  poor  the  requirements  were  disre- 
garded, or  if  too  difficult,  commutation  was  resorted  to. 
Sometimes  it  called  for  an  Ononhara  which  means  that  a 
number  of  braves  were  to  act  like  madmen,  by  entering 
cabins,  destroying  what  they  could  lay  hands  on,  carrying  of¥ 
hatchets,  pots,  shoes,  clothing,  etc.,  none  of  which  was  re- 
fused, the  actors  all  the  time  howling  like  demons.  This 
performance  continued  for  days.  Their  festivals  were  in- 
numerable, but  de  Brebeuf  reduces  them  to  four  classes : 
festivals  of  farewells;  of  mutual  enjoyment;  of  singing  and 
eating;  of  healing  the  sick. 

At  the  eating-festival  you  have  to  swallow  all  that  is 
given  to  you,  and  if  you  do  not  succeed  offhand,  they  put 
you  aside  in  a  corner  until  you  do.  No  one  can  enter  after 
a  feast  is  begun.  At  song-festivals  the  sport  may  continue 
for  twenty-four  consecutive  hours,  and  on  one  occasion  he 
saw  as  many  as  twenty  or  thirty  cauldrons  boiling  at  one 
time,  and  no  less  than  thirty  deer  devoured  by  the  guests. 
Ordinarily  they  began  their  feasts  by  singing.  Some  of 
their  dances  represented  the  slaying  of  their  enemies.  At 
least  a  dozen  of  them  were  prescribed  for  the  healing-feasts, 
but  the  dream  must  declare  which  particular  one  is  to  be 
employed.  Again  it  may  not  be  a  dance  that  is  to  restore 
the  sick  Huron  to  health,  but  a  game  of  lacrosse  in  which 
the  whole  village  participates;  or  a  gambling  contest  at 
which  everyone  who  can  crowd  into  the  cabin,  looks  on  at 
the  game,  which  was,  to  a  great  extent,  like  throwing  dice, 
each  player  howling  like  a  demon,  as  he  shakes  six  plum 
stones  in  a  dish,  and  keeping  at  it  till  he  loses  everything  he 
has,  even  to  his  clothes,  and  then  walking  off  light  heartedly 
to  his  lodge  through  the  snow.  Often  there  are  indecencies 
wdiich  cannot  be  recorded. 

130 


HURONS    OF    LORETTE    (1S38). 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

He  tells  you  that  they  were  not  so  stupid  as  not  to  recog- 
nize something  above  the  world  of  sense,  but  since  their 
vices  had  made  them  lose  the  knowledge  of  God,  they 
turned  naturally  to  the  devil.  They  resorted  to  charms  for 
good  luck,  and  were  most  subservient  to  the  sorcerers  who 
made  a  business  of  predicting  events,  healing  the  sick,  find- 
ing lost  objects  and  the  like.  These  tricksters  were  always 
at  the  festivals,  and  drove  a  profitable  trade.  Some  of  their 
predictions  turned  out  to  be  amazingly  correct ;  whether 
accidentally  or  by  diabolical  agency  de  Brebeuf  does  not  ven- 
ture to  decide.  The  remedies  enjoined  by  the  medicine- 
men were  sometimes  ridiculous,  sometimes  horribly  cruel, 
and  sometimes  in  appearance  diabolical.  When  the  priests 
pointed  out  to  the  patient  the  absurdity  of  what  was  being 
done,  the  answer  would  be  "  Why  don't  you  cure  us?  "  It 
would  be  a  splendid  opportunity,  the  Fathers  thought,  for 
a  good  medical  practitioner  who  would  devote  himself  to 
healing  these  unfortunate  wretches.  Teaching  divine  truth 
would  then  be  extremely  easy. 

In  spite  of  their  degradation,  they  had  nevertheless 
evolved  a  respectable  scheme  of  political  and  civil  life. 
They  had  regularly  established  villages,  consisting  at  times 
of  fifty  or  sixty  lodges,  which  meant  three  or  four  hundred 
families ;  they  cultivated  their  fields,  and  lived  at  peace 
with  each  other.  The  Nation  of  the  Bears  especially  were 
remarkable  for  the  almost  inconceivable  sweetness  of  their 
manners.  It  was  very  hard  to  offend  them,  and  they  always 
concealed  their  resentment.  They  were  extremely  kind  and 
obliging,  and  were  ever  ready  to  help  others  in  distress. 
They  never  married  in  their  own  kin,  either  direct  or  col- 
lateral, but  sought  alliances  elsewhere.  They  talked  well 
and  reasoned  correctly.  They  were  honest,  courteous  and 
civil,  and  in  their  dances  and  festivals  there  was  more 
decency  and  reserve  than  among  the  other  Indians.  They 
punished  robbers,  murderers  and  traitors,  but,  of  course, 
it  was  in  a  way  that  was  in  keeping  with  their  traditions; 

131 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

not  by  putting  them  to  death,  but  usually  by  giving  presents 
to  the  aggrieved  party.  One  horrible  penalty,  however,  is 
recorded,  of  making  a  murderer  sit  under  the  corpse  of  his 
victim  and  receive  the  corruption  and  blood  of  the  decaying 
flesh  in  the  plate  from  which  he  was  to  eat. 

They  had  also  their  system  of  treaties  with  outside  tribes, 
and  even  stipulations  were  made  by  individual  families,  the 
children  of  the  contracting  parties  being  rigidly  bound  by 
the  terms  agreed  upon.  In  war,  though  there  was  appar- 
ently great  confusion,  there  was  a  certain  order  observed, 
especially  when  about  entering  into  battle.  As  to  their  con- 
duct in  war,  de  Brebeuf  very  modestly  refers  to  Champlain's 
writings  for  information. 

They  fortified  their  villages,  and  even  maintained  spies 
who  lived  among  other  nations.  Hence,  visitors  from  sus- 
pected tribes  who  entered  a  village  were  kept  under  strict" 
surveillance.  The  tribe  was  generally  under  the  authority 
of  two  chiefs ;  one  for  war,  the  other  for  civil  matters. 
Under  these  chiefs  were  a  great  number  of  captains,  each 
with  special  duties.  These  captains  obtained  their  posts 
sometimes  by  election,  sometimes  by  succession.  But  it 
was  their  nephews  and  grandchilren,  not  their  own  chilren, 
who  were  their  heirs.  However,  the  heirs  had  to  possess 
the  requisite  qualities  for  the  office,  before  it  was  confided 
to  them,  and  had  to  be  formally  accepted  by  the  nation.  As 
such  charges  implied  a  great  deal  of  hard  work,  and  as  there 
was  no  means  of  securing  obedience  except  by  persuasion,  the 
honor  was  sometimes  refused.  De  Brebeuf  gives  an  in- 
stance of  it  in  his  own  case,  where  a  chief  had  to  make 
speeches  at  him  for  six  months  before  the  missionaries  would 
consent  to  move  to  another  village.  Councils  had  to  be  held 
about  it  and  presents  given,  and  finally  to  help  on  the  reso- 
lution that  was  ultimately  taken,  all  the  Indians,  young  and 
old.  built  a  new  cabin  to  soothe  him  for  yielding. 

The  General  Assemblies,  were,  so  to  say,  parliaments  of 
the  entire  country.     They  were  usually  held  in  the  village 

132 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

of  the  principal  chief  and  in  his  lodge,  which  was  adorned 
for  the  occasion,  and  supplied  with  fires  if  the  season  called 
for  it.  At  other  times,  however,  the  assembly  took  place 
in  the  middle  of  the  village,  or  in  the  depths  of  the  forest, 
especially  if  the  business  had  to  be  secret,  and  then  it  was 
most  commonly  at  night.  The  chief  of  the  council  presided. 
The  decisions  were  arrived  at  by  a  plurality  of  votes.  As 
human  nature  is  always  the  same,  it  is  not  surprising  to 
hear  that  the  presiding  officers  and  their  officials  were  quite 
as  open  to  bribery  as  in  bodies  of  civilized  legislators. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  before  the  convention  was  to 
send  messengers  around  to  the  different  villages,  inviting, 
not  ordering,  attendance  at  the  meeting.  On  their  arrival 
the  delegates  took  their  places,  each  village  or  nation  keeping 
in  its  own  group.  After  a  vote  had  been  taken  about  the 
legality  of  the  convocation,  an  orator  was  appointed  to  open 
the  proceedings.  It  was  not  always  the  chief  who  was 
selected.  Sometimes  his  gravity  prompted  him  to  remain 
silent.  Any  distinguished  man  could  be  named,  and  he, 
after  thanks  and  congratulations,  let  loose  the  flood  of  ora- 
tory for  the  other  orators. 

"  Their  manner  of  speaking  is  like  that  of  a  preacher 
of  the  old  school,"  says  de  Brebeuf,  "  with  rising  and  falling 
inflection,  but  slowly,  gravely,  distinctly,  and  sometimes 
repeating  the  same  reasons  several  times,  as  well  as  sum- 
ming up  the  arguments  of  the  other  side.  I  have  heard," 
he  continues,  "  that  their  parliamentary  style  differs  from 
their  ordinary  language,  but  such  is  not  the  case.  They  are 
merely  more  metaphorical,  more  exact  and  more  elevated. 
Most  of  the  speakers  have  clean  cut  minds  and  reason  well. 
They  do  not  stammer  or  hesitate,  and  have  great  sport 
with  any  one  who  does.  Some  of  them  are  born  orators, 
and  when  at  the  conclusion  of  a  speech  the  grunt  of  approval 
has  been  given,  the  presiding  officer  or  some  one  else  sums 
up  what  the  speaker  has  said ;  so  that  there  is  no  danger 
of  any  false  interpretation  or  impression.     They  are  always 

133 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

very  moderate  and  prudent  in  their  utterances ;  and  though 
they  sometimes  lose  their  tempers,  they  are  astonishingly 
sweet  and  discreet. 

"  They  display  an  extraordinary  solicitude  in  their  care  of 
the  dead.  They  will  save  for  years  and  go  naked  and  hungry, 
so  that  the  interments  of  their  departed  ones  may  be  at- 
tended with  the  proper  solemnity  and  display.  They  are  not 
afraid  to  speak  of  death  to  the  sick,  nor  are  the  sick  alarmed 
to  hear  of  its  approach.  As  soon  as  death  takes  place  the 
corpse  is  not  laid  out,  but  is  rather  bundled  up  in  a  sort  of 
a  package,  and  until  that  is  done  no  one  weeps.  Then  they 
begin  a  regularly  modulated  lugubrious  wail,  until  some  one 
in  authority  orders  them  to  cease. 

"  After  that,  the  captain  of  the  village  goes  around  to 
the  houses  with  the  news,  and  the  friends  flock  in  and  begin 
a  series  of  discourses  about  the  merits  of  the  deceased.  Mes- 
sengers are  sent  to  the  outlying  villages,  and  each  family 
has  its  own  undertaker  who  directs  the  proceedings.  The 
burial  usually  takes  place  on  the  third  day,  and  meantime 
each  house  hangs  its  pot  over  the  fire  and  prepares  for  the 
funeral  feast.  Great  numbers  have  to  be  provided  for,  and 
good  feeling  has  to  be  in  evidence,  but  it  is  chiefly  to  oblige 
the  dead  man's  soul,  which  is  supposed  to  take  its  part  of 
the  viands. 

"  When  the  captain  announces  the  departure  for  the 
cemetery,  every  one  assembles  in  the  cabin,  lamenting  and 
weeping.  The  corpse  is  put  on  a  stretcher  and  covered  with 
a  beaver  robe  and  carried  out.  All  follow  in  silence.  A 
bark  tomb  has  been  already  erected  on  four  posts  about 
eight  or  ten  feet  high.  While  the  corpse  is  being  prepared 
the  captain  announces  the  presents  which  have  been  made 
to  the  family  to  dry  their  tears.  They  are  numerous  and 
costly,  but  they  are  not  placed  in  the  tomb.  The  dead  person 
is  sometimes  provided  with  a  comb,  a  gourd  full  of  oil,  a 
porcelain  collar,  and  two  or  three  little  loaves.  Presents 
are  also  given  to  the  funeral  director.     While  the  women  are 

134 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUR 

at  the  feet  of  the  corpse  giving  vent  to  their  dismal  lamen- 
tations, the  captain  generally  throws  a  stick  to  the  young 
men  who  struggle  madly  for  its  possession,  sometimes  for 
more  than  an  hour  " — a  game  which  is  strongly  suggestive 
of  our  college  cane-rushes.  When  that  is  over  every  one 
goes  home. 

"  Little  children  are  buried  in  the  roads  in  the  hope  that 
they  may  be  born  again  as  some  woman  passes  by.  The 
mourning  goes  on  for  a  year,  though  the  deep  mourning 
lasts  only  ten  days,  during  which  time  the  afflicted  parties 
do  not  go  near  the  fire  even  in  winter ;  they  eat  everything 
cold  and  go  out  only  at  night.  They  shear  off  a  part  of 
their  hair  behind.  They  do  not  marry  again  inside  the  year. 
The  general  interment  takes  place  only  every  tenth  year, 
but  in  the  interval  funeral  feasts  are  of  frequent  occurrence, 
in  order  to  recall  the  memory  of  the  dead.  The  solemn  and 
general  feast  of  the  dead  is  a  national  event.  Its  chief 
characteristic  is  the  universal  feasting  that  takes  place.  In- 
deed, these  entombments  are  called  '  the  festivals  of  the 
pot.'     The  pot  is  boiling  in  every  cabin. 

"  Before  it  takes  place  a  solemn  council  is  convened  to 
decide  on  the  proper  day.  When  the  word  is  given  each 
family  goes  after  its  dead,  no  matter  where  they  may  be. 
The  disentombment  is  a  scene  of  unspeakable  horror. 
Corpses  in  every  state  of  decomposition  are  laid  out  on  the 
ground  to  be  looked  at.  When  the  relatives  have  satisfied 
themselves  with  the  dreadful  spectacle,  the  flesh  is  removed 
from  the  bones.  Those,  however,  who  have  recently  died 
are  left  untouched.  When  this  ghoul-like  ceremony  is  over, 
the  remains  are  carefully  wrapped  in  precious  robes,  and 
carried  on  the  backs  of  the  mourners  to  the  village,  each 
cabin  taking  its  own  and  performing  its  own  ceremonies. 

"  The  Hurons  were  convinced  that  a  man  had  two  souls, 
one  which  goes  straight  to  the  Village  of  Souls,  or  turns 
itself  into  a  turtle  dove;  while  the  other  clings  to  the  corpse 
and  is  a  sort  of  forma  cadavcrica.     Hence  their  extreme 

135 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

solicitude.  A  day  or  so  after,  speeches  are  made  and 
presents  interchanged,  and  then  all  the  bodies  are  carried 
to  a  large  cabin  and  suspended  on  poles.  The  village  cap- 
tain gives  a  great  feast,  but  does  it  in  the  name  of  some 
dead  chief  whose  name  he  bears." 

On  the  occasion  at  which  de  Brebeuf  was  present  eight 
days  had  already  passed,  and  people  were  flocking  in  from 
all  parts  with  their  dead.  The  women  meantime  indulged 
in  games  of  archery,  and  the  braves  in  their  cane-rushes, 
for  both  of  which  prizes  were  given.  Finally  the  grand 
procession  started  for  Ossossane,  which  was  only  twelve 
miles  away,  but  it  went  by  very  slow  stages.  Every  village 
they  passed  came  out  to  meet  them  with  presents.  It  was 
fully  five  days  after  when  the  burial  services  began.  They 
first  undid  all  the  bundles,  for  a  last  look  at  the  departed, 
and  the  indulgence  of  extravagant  affection.  "  The  place 
of  assembly,"  he  says,  "  was  as  large  as  the  Place  Royale 
in  Paris."  In  the  middle  was  a  pit  ten  feet  deep  and  about 
fifteen  feet  in  diameter.  All  around  it  a  platform  had  been 
erected  above  which  were  poles,  placed  lengthwise,  with 
others  across  from  which  the  packs  of  bones  were  to  be 
hung.  The  bodies  that  were  still  entire  were  stretched  on 
the  platform  with  bark  or  mats  beneath  them. 

The  procession  arrived  at  one  in  the  afternoon,  and 
divided  up  into  separate  groups  of  villages,  families,  etc. 
Then  a  signal  was  given,  and  a  wild  rush  was  made  for 
the  platform  to  hang  up  the  dead,  and  to  display  the  presents 
which  on  that  occasion  were  1200  in  number.  When  that 
was  done  the  ladders  were  withdrawn,  and  for  two  hours 
the  two  thousand  people  of  the  crowd  contemplated  the 
display,  and  from  that  till  seven  o'clock  at  night  the  orators 
discoursed  on  the  virtues  of  the  departed  and  the  richness 
of  the  presents.  About  five  or  six  o'clock,  while  the  flood 
of  oratory  was  being  poured  out,  they  began  to  prepare 
the  pit  to  receive  the  bodies. 

First  someone  threw  in  handfuls  of  sand  to  insure  good 

136 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

luck  for  the  souls  at  gambling;  then  forty-eight  precious 
robes  were  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  grave.  This  was, 
of  course,  over  and  above  the  robes  in  which  each  corpse 
was  enveloped.  At  seven  o'clock  they  started  to  place  the 
bodies  in  the  grave.  It  was  impossible  for  the  priests  to 
get  near,  and  it  seemed  to  them  like  a  riot  of  the  damned, 
as  the  savages  struggled  in  from  all  sides  with  half  rotten 
carcases,  yelling  and  screaming  to  the  ten  or  twelve  men 
who  were  down  in  the  pit.  Finally  in  the  centre  they  placed 
three  old  pots  which  were  of  no  further  use  and  a  few  por- 
celain collars,  though  of  course  there  were  many  on  the 
bodies  themselves.  They  passed  the  whole  night  at  the 
mouth  of  the  pit  gorging  themselves  at  the  fires,  where  they 
hung  up  their  pots  to  cook  their  food. 

In  the  morning  they  were  to  put  in  the  loose  bones.  The 
missionaries,  who  had  withdrawn  to  their  own  cabin  for 
the  night,  had  resolved  to  be  on  hand  early  in  the  morning. 
But  they  were  not  quick  enough  for  what  had  happened. 
One  of  the  bundles  of  bones  had  fallen  from  its  pole,  and 
the  people  were  wild  with  excitement.  When  the  mission- 
aries arrived  they  saw  what  looked  like  a  picture  of  hell. 
The  whole  place  was  lighted  up  with  the  glare  of  many 
fires,  cries  and  shrieks  filled  the  air,  and  the  maddened  people 
were  flinging  the  bones  into  the  pit,  first  tearing  off  the 
precious  robes  to  carry  them  home.  Then  the  multitude 
took  up  a  lugubrious  chant,  which,  rising  and  falling,  seemed 
like  the  wail  of  lost  souls. 

Almost  everything  had  been  thrown  in  when  the  mis- 
sionaries had  arrived,  and  the  bones  had  already  filled  the 
pit  to  the  depth  of  two  feet.  Over  them  were  folded  the 
robes  that  had  lined  the  sides  of  the  excavation,  and  mats 
and  bark  were  placed  on  top.  Finally  sand,  blocks  of  wood, 
poles,  anything  in  fact  that  came  to  hand  was  pitched  in 
to  fill  up  the  excavation.  De  Brebeuf  remarks  that  the 
important  men,  the  grossestetcs,  who  presided  at  this  cere- 
mony made  a  good  deal  of  profit  out  of  it,  in  the  precious 

137 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

things  they  were  able  to  carry  off  in  the  way  of  presents; 
but  that  the  people  were  getting  tired  of  the  whole  thing 
on  account  of  the  great  expense  it  involved.  However,  he 
saw  in  the  festival  a  glimmer  of  hope  that  he  some  day 
might  speak  to  them  of  the  pricelessness  of  the  human  soul, 
"  of  whose  immortality  they  had  at  least  some  vague  idea." 

After  the  dead  were  interred  there  was  a  general  dis- 
tribution of  the  robes  that  had  been  exhibited.  A  very  rich 
one  was  offered  to  de  Brebeuf  in  return  for  the  valuable 
collar  he  had  presented  at  the  council.  But  he  refused  the 
gift.  "  I  gave  you  that  collar,"  he  said,  "  to  draw  you  to 
the  faith,  and  not  to  get  anything  in  return.  Do  what  you 
will  with  it."  The  chiefs  of  course  were  delighted.  It  was 
so  much  more  profit  for  themselves.  It  was  on  this  occasion 
that  poor  Briile's  ghost  arose. 

At  the  preparatory  council,  de  Brebeuf  had  been  asked 
to  transfer  the  bodies  of  the  two  Frenchmen  who  had  been 
murdered  and  put  them  in  the  trench  with  the  rest  of  the 
dead.  They  were  Brijle  and  Chaudron,  two  curious  appel- 
latives— ''  burned  "  and  "  pot."  He  refused,  alleging  that 
both  of  those  unfortunates  had  been  baptized,  and  he  was 
unwilling  to  mingle  their  dust  with  the  heathens.  Doubt- 
less he  expressed  it  more  gently.  It  was  finally  agreed  that 
he  should  transport  them  to  the  burial  spot,  and  put  them 
in  a  grave  apart  with  a  great  cross  above  them.  But  the 
savages  of  Ihonitiria  began  quarrelling  with  those  of  Os- 
sossane  about  the  body  of  Bride,  somebody  suggesting  that 
the  people  who  murdered  him  ought  to  keep  him.  So  he 
was  left  in  his  grave  in  the  woods.  "  One  has  to  admire 
the  secret  judgments  of  God,"  soliloquizes  the  missionary, 
"  for  that  infamous  wretch  did  not  merit  such  an  honor. 
To  be  candid  it  would  have  been  hard  on  us  to  make  a 
special  cemetery  for  him,  and  to  transfer  to  consecrated 
ground  the  body  of  a  man  who  had  led  such  a  scandalous 
life  in  this  country,  and  had  given  the  savages  such  a  bad 
impression  of  the  morality  of  the  French." 

138 


CHAPTER   VII. 
Among  the  Neutrals. 

The  country  of  the  Neutrals  had  long  been  tempting  the 
missionaries.  It  lay  to  the  south,  and  according  to  the 
"  Relations  "  was  about  120  miles  away ;  that  is  to  say : 
"  St.  Mary's  which  had  just  been  established,  was  in  latitude 
44°,  25',  and  the  Neutral  boundary  was  42^°,"  but,  as  if 
in  anticipation  of  a  challenge,  the  writer  adds :  "  we  cannot 
be  more  exact,  for  if  the  natives  here  go  into  convulsions 
when  they  see  us  using  our  writing  materials,  we  do  not 
know  what  would  happen  if  they  found  us  on  the  hills  with 
a  quadrant  or  an  astrolabe."  For  that  reason  the  unscien- 
tific reader  will  pardon  them  if  they  are  out  in  their  reckon- 
ing by  15'  18".  Whatever  the  distance  be  geodetically,  it 
meant  four  or  five  days'  journey  to  reach  the  nearest  Neu- 
tral town.  There  we  are  told  "  if  the  travellers  continued 
south  east  for  another  five  days  they  would,  barring  accident 
or  delay,  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara  River,  through 
which  Lake  Erie  empties  into  Lake  Ontario.  On  the  west 
of  that  river  and  not  on  the  east,"  we  are  warned,  "are 
most  of  the  Neutral  villages.  The  few  on  the  other  side 
straggle  off  in  the  direction  of  the  Eries  or  Cats."  "  Oh !  " 
sighs  the  poor  scribe  who  is  writing  all  this,  in  his  miserable 
wigwam  up  near  Georgian  Bay,  "  if  we  could  only  control 
the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  how  easy  it  would 
be  to  leave  Quebec,  paddle  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  cross  Lake 
Ontario,  and  then  go  to  the  regions  beyond."  But  the 
Iroquois  refused  to  be  controlled,  and  four  years  after  these 
words  were  written,  they  were  torturing  Jogues  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mohawk. 

The  earlier  explorers  were  under  the  impression  that  most 
of  the  tribes  towards  the  west  were  Neutrals,  but  a  more 

139 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

exact  knowledge  of  language  and  localities  revealed  the  fact 
that  they  were  not  so  numerous  as  was  imagined.  They 
were  only  about  12,000  all  told,  and  were  distributed  in 
forty  towns  or  villages.  Their  Indian  name  was  Ottiwan- 
daronk.  They  were  called  Neutrals  merely  because  they 
refused  to  take  sides  in  the  Huron-Iroquois  wars.  They 
held  the  scales  so  evenly  balanced  between  the  two  con- 
testants, that  the  Huron  and  Iroquois  braves  might  meet  in 
an  Ottiwandaronk  wigwam  without  coming  to  blows,  much 
less  using  their  tomahawks.  Later  on,  as  often  happens, 
the  nation  sympathized  with  the  winners,  but  it  turned  out 
to  be  very  bad  policy,  for  after  the  Iroquois  had  demolished 
the  Hurons,  they  made  short  w^ork  of  the  Attiwandaronks. 
It  was  a  deplorable  strife,  for  at  bottom  it  was  mainly  a 
struggle  to  get  the  white  man's  trade. 

The  Hurons  and  Neutrals  resembled  each  other  in  their 
manner  and  customs,  and  in  what  Lalemant  calls  "  their 
domestic  and  political  economy."  They  both  dressed  in 
the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  but  the  Neutral  apparel  was  less 
decent.  Although  the  women  were  clothed  from  the  waist, 
the  men  were  shameless.  "  The  warriors,"  we  are  in- 
formed, "  were  tattooed  with  as  many  traceries  as  could 
be  found  in  the  old  gorgets  and  head  pieces  and  cuirasses 
of  a  French  soldier.  The  people  cultivated  maize,  faizoles, 
pumpkin  and  squash.  Fish  abounded  in  the  rivers  and 
lakes,  and  there  was  plenty  of  game  in  the  woods,  such  as 
deer,  moose,  wild  cats  and  hctes  noircs.  There  were  other 
animals  whose  flesh  and  fur  were  considered  especially 
valuable  for  trade,"  but  what  they  were  we  are  not  informed. 
"  Turkeys  went  in  droves  through  the  forests  and  fields, 
but  in  the  matter  of  fruits,  the  Neutrals  had  to  satisfy  them- 
selves with  chestnuts  and  wild  apples." 

They  were  taller  and  shapelier  than  the  Hurons,  but  more 
brutal.  For  instance  a  Huron  would  never  think  of  tor- 
turing a  woman  at  the  stake,  though,  in  his  wrath,  he  might 
kill   her.     The   Neutrals   had   no   scruples   on   that   score. 

140 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

There  was  a  notable  difference,  also,  in  the  way  they  dis- 
posed of  the  dead.  The  Huron  carried  off  the  corpse 
immediately,  whereas  the  Neutral  let  it  rot  in  the  wigwam, 
till  even  his  strong  nostrils  could  no  longer  stand  the  in- 
fliction. They  then  put  it  on  a  scaffold  outside,  till  the 
flesh  fell  off,  and  finally  set  up  the  skeleton  in  the  lodge  so 
that  the  squaws  might  lament  over  it  whenever  they  were 
so  disposed. 

Another  uncomfortable  feature  of  life  among  them  was 
the  great  number  of  maniacs  to  be  met  with.  Some  were 
genuine  madmen,  but  many  were  counterfeit,  and  assumed 
the  frenzy,  merely  as  a  pretext  for  all  sorts  of  license,  rob- 
bery and  murder.  When  they  were  carrying  on  their  antics 
no  one  interfered  with  them.  They  were  chartered  liber- 
tines. Such  were  the  people  whom  the  missionaries  pro- 
posed to  convert.  The  task  was  unusually  difficult,  and 
for  that  reason  de  Brebeuf  was  assigned  to  it,  though  the 
"Relation"  tells  us  that  "the  lot  fell  on  him;"  as  if  he 
were  chosen  as  the  Apostles  chose  Matthias.  Chaumonot, 
who  had  just  arrived,  was  given  to  him  as  a  companion. 

With  two  servants  of  the  mission,  who  went  ostensibly 
as  traders,  so  as  to  facilitate  the  entrance  of  the  missionaries 
into  this  doubtful  country,  they  started  out  on  November  2, 
1640,  and  after  five  days'  tramping  through  woods  and 
swamps,  reached  Kandoucho,  which  they  called  All  Saints. 
The  time  of  the  year  suggested  the  name,  and,  indeed,  the 
titles  of  man)/*  of  those  old  missions  almost  serve  as  a 
church  calendar. 

Nothing  noteworthy  happened  at  that  place,  and  in  blissful 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  Huron  runners  had  preceded  them 
to  predispose  the  Neutrals  against  their  coming,  they  con- 
tinued on  their  way  in  search  of  the  principal  chief.  But 
the  country  was  aroused.  The  cry  w^as  on  every  tongue: 
"  Echon !  Echon !  The  Great  Sorcerer,  the  Chief  of  the 
Demons  is  coming."  The  women  and  children  fled  in 
terror,  and  the  men  kept  aloof.     A  council  was  called  to 

141 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

determine  what  to  do.  The  priests  presented  themselves 
at  it,  ahhough  uninvited,  and  offered  a  wampum  belt  of 
two  thousand  porcelain  beads  by  way  of  friendship.  It  was 
refused,  on  the  pretext  that  the  chief  was  absent.  The 
refusal  was  ominous. 

Meantime  the  shrewd  Indians  had  discovered  that  the 
two  servants  were  not  real  traders,  probably  because  they 
were  so  well  behaved,  and  the  missionaries  had  to  conduct 
them  back  again  to  the  Huron  country.  When  that  was 
done  they  returned  a  second  time  to  the  Neutrals,  with  no 
pretence  of  trade  to  obscure  their  purpose.  The  second 
appearance  of  the  missionaries  was  the  signal  for  an  ex- 
plosion. The  chiefs  told  the  people  that  "  Echon  had  de- 
clared he  would  remain  a  certain  time  in  the  country  and 
would  cause  the  death  of  as  many  as  he  had  determined 
to  kill,  and  then  would  go  to  other  places  and  do  the  same ; 
not  stopping  till  he  had  destroyed  the  whole  earth."  Others 
said  that  "  after  having  brought  ruin  on  the  Hurons,  he 
was  now  on  his  way  to  make  a  treaty  with  the  Senecas, 
who  were  down  near  Niagara."  Others,  on  the  contrary, 
related  that  when  Joseph  Chiwatenwa  was  buried,  Echon 
turned  towards  the  Seneca  country  and  exclaimed :  "  Seneca, 
it  is  all  over  with  thee;  thou  art  dead,"  and  that  striding 
solemnly  in  that  direction,  he  caused  a  pestilence  to  break 
out  in  their  villages.  As  just  then  there  was  sickness  pre- 
vailing among  the  Senecas,  it  was  easy  to  persuade 
the  Indians  that  de  Brebeuf  had  caused  it.  When  the 
storm  was  at  its  worst  the  Hurons  made  their  appearance 
again,  and  went  around  exciting  the  Neutrals  to  kill  the 
priests.  Indeed,  rumors  of  their  murder  had  already 
arrived  at  St.  Mary's. 

Undismayed  by  all  this  commotion  the  two  heroic  men 
kept  on  their  way.  But  it  was  everywhere  the  same  story. 
Arriving  at  a  village  they  would  hear  the  cry :  "  Bar  your 
doors,  Echon  is  coming,"  and  not  a  lodge  would  admit  them  ; 
or  if  they  were  given  shelter,  they  were  treated  with  the 

143 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

greatest  brutality,  and  made  to  do  the  work  of  slaves.  They 
were  abused,  insulted,  threatened.  The  professional  maniacs 
would  enter  stark  naked  into  their  cabin,  to  shock  or  rob 
them.  Whatever  they  touched  was  regarded  as  bewitched ; 
the  springs  where  they  slaked  their  thirst  were  poisoned; 
the  trails  they  travelled  were  infected;  their  crucifixes  were 
okis;  their  prayers  incantations.  No  one  would  sleep  in  a 
house  they  had  entered ;  children  vomited  blood,  and  women 
became  sterile.  "Kill  them;"  "eat  them,"  was  heard  on 
all  sides.  So  great  was  the  excitement  that  the  people 
insisted  on  another  council.  Into  it  de  Brebeuf  with  his 
usual  audacity  forced  his  way,  only  to  be  thrust  out  with 
threats  and  insults.  The  deliberations  lasted  till  midnight. 
Three  times  the  sentence  of  death  was  passed,  but  the  in- 
fluence of  some  of  the  chiefs  who  did  not  share  the  general 
panic  deferred  the  execution.  When  the  meeting  broke  up, 
the  Indian  who  had  given  them  shelter  hurried  to  tell  them 
what  had  happened.  To  his  amazement  he  found  them  both 
asleep.     Death  had  no  terrors  for  them. 

Onward  they  went  from  village  to  village,  until  they 
reached  Onguiara,  near  the  famous  Falls,  but  they  tell  us 
nothing  in  their  account  of  what  must  have  greatly  im- 
pressed them.  Doubtless  they  were  thinking  more  of  the 
moral  cataract  that  was  overwhelming  the  unhappy  people 
around  them.  We  only  know  that  they  were  badly  treated 
there,  and  that  they  journeyed  on  to  another  village  which 
came  near  being  their  grave,  for  every  lodge  was  shut 
against  them.  The  night  was  far  advanced ;  the  snow  was 
deep,  and  the  bitter  cold  was  splitting  the  trees  in  the 
forest.  There  was  danger  of  freezing  to  death,  and  hence 
they  determined  to  force  their  way  into  a  wigwam  at  the 
risk  of  being  tomahawked  for  their  temerity.  It  was  only 
a  choice  of  ways  of  leaving  the  world,  and  they  chose  the 
latter.  So  crouching  at  the  door  of  a  lodge  they  waited 
for  some  one  to  come  out.  After  a  while  the  deerskin  was 
pushed  aside,  and  an  Indian  appeared.     Before  he  could 

143 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

prevent  them  they  rushed  in,  only  to  find  the  occupants 
aroused  to  a  pitch  of  fury  at  this  daring  intrusion.  Once 
inside,  however,  the  laws  of  hospitality  forbade  their  being 
harmed,  but  the  young  men  could  with  difficulty  be  re- 
strained from  making  light  of  the  law,  and  murdering  them 
where  they  stood.  Shouts  and  yells  resounded  through 
the  cabin,  and  the  whole  village  rushed  to  the  scene  of 
the  uproar.  "  Kill  them ;  "  "  drink  their  blood,"  "  we  have 
had  enough  of  dark  flesh,  let  us  eat  the  white,"  they  cried. 
A  warrior  stood  before  them  with  his  bow  in  his  hand,  his 
arrow  drawn  to  the  head.  The  old  men  entreated  the 
priests  to  withdraw,  but  de  Brebeuf  calmly  continued  talking, 
till  awed  by  his  splendid  courage  the  assembly  grew  calm, 
the  tumult  ceased,  and  all  sat  down  to  discuss  the  situation. 
They  asked  all  sorts  of  questions,  examined  the  articles  the 
missionaries  had  with  them,  but  immediately  imposed  silence 
if  any  attempt  was  made  to  introduce  religious  subjects. 

It  was  during  this  apostolic  journey  that  de  Brebeuf  had  a 
vision  of  a  demon  who  endeavored  to  strike  him  with  a  fiery 
dart,  but  who  was  always  prevented  by  an  invisible  power. 
The  savage  with  the  arrow  might  well  pass  for  the  demon, 
but  the  missionary  chose  to  see  it  verified  in  all  the  wonderful 
escapes  from  death  which  marked  his  journey  in  this  new 
country.  Though  he  had  consecrated  the  land  to  the  Holy 
Angels,  the  fallen  ones  would  seem  to  have  been  in  posses- 
sion. Indeed,  the  mission  had  utterly  failed,  for  during 
those  four  awful  months  nothing  had  been  effected,  and 
it  was  at  last  determined  to  return  to  St.  Mary's  But  a 
fierce  blizzard  was  raging,  and  they  were  compelled  to  pass 
another  three  weeks  among  these  intractable  savages.  By 
this  time  they  had  arrived  at  a  village  called  Teatonguiaton. 
They  gave  it  the  name  of  St.  William,  and  it  turned  out  to 
be  one  of  the  blessed  spots  of  that  painful  pilgrimage. 

In  spite  of  the  clamor  of  her  neighbors,  a^squaw  received 
them  into  her  cabin.  She  was  denounced  by  the  tribe, 
warned  of  the  danger  of  harboring  them,  threatened  with 

144 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

punishment  if  she  persisted ;  but  she  made  light  of  their 
wrath,  and  treated  her  guests  with  the  greatest  consider- 
ation, giving  them  the  best  portion  of  her  food ;  even  pro- 
curing fish  for  their  Lenten  fare,  a  soHcitude  from  which 
in  the  circumstances,  a  modern  missionary  would  have  dis- 
pensed her;  and  instructing  her  children  to  put  themselves 
at  the  service  of  the  Fathers.  Meantime  her  lodge  was 
often  invaded  by  furious  savages  who  stormed  around  her 
visitors,  beat  them,  spat  upon  them,  tore  off  their  garments 
and  threatened  them  with  death.  But  though  the  riot  con- 
tinued night  and  day  for  weeks,  the  brave  woman  never 
flinched  in  her  defense  of  her  guests.  Even  her  boys  had 
fights  in  the  village  streets  on  their  account. 

It  used  to  be  one  of  Cesar's  glories  that  he  wrote  his 
famous  "  Commentaries  "  in  the  very  midst  of  war's  alarms, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  he  could  have  achieved  what  those  two 
ragged  and  weary  men  accomplished  in  that  miserable  wig- 
wam during  the  three  weeks  they  sought  its  shelter  from 
the  blinding  snowstorm  outside,  or  strove  to  get  a  moment's 
peace  from  the  maniacs  who  were  continually  raging  within 
it.  In  the  twenty-five  days  of  their  stay  in  that  place,  they 
wrote  a  book  of  comparative  philology  of  the  Huron  and 
Neutral  dialects  which,  according  to  Lalemant,  was  worth 
spending  several  years  of  exile  to  complete.  The  good 
squaw  would  leave  all  her  work  and  patiently  dictate  and 
explain  while  they  wrote. 

They  were  most  grateful,  indeed,  but  her  kindness  was 
almost  a  source  of  sorrow  to  them,  for  although  giving 
evidence  of  so  much  natural  virtue,  she  failed  to  show  the 
slightest  inclination  to  accept  the  Faith.  When  her  father 
arrived,  he  fully  approved  of  all  that  she  had  done,  but 
as  he  was  something  of  a  sorcerer,  it  was  perhaps  to  get 
some  hints  about  the  black  art  from  the  missionaries. 
It  was  the  case  of  Simon  Magus  and  St.  Peter.  Meantime 
the  Fathers  in  Huronia  were  very  much  alarmed  about  the 
wanderers.     Disquieting  reports  had  come  in  about  their 

145 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

fate,  and  finally  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  Indians 
to  send  some  one  out  in  search  of  diem.  Two  volunteered 
to  go,  one  of  them,  the  famous  Teondechoren,  of  whom  a 
word  here  is  almost  imperative. 

Teondechoren  was  the  brother  of  the  pious  Chiwatenwa. 
He  had  been  a  man  of  frightfully  licentious  life,  and  the 
admitted  leader  in  the  most  diabolical  incantations  and 
dances  of  the  tribe.  Shortly  after  the  death  of  his  great 
brother,  he  presented  himself  at  the  lodge  of  the  priests, 
and  asked  for  baptism.  The  proposal  made  them  shudder. 
But  he  persisted,  and  to  their  surprise  they  found  that  he 
was  perfectly  well  instructed  in  the  Faith.  His  knowledge 
had  been  almost  forced  on  him  by  Chiwatenwa.  Still  there 
could  be  no  question  of  trusting  him,  especially  in  his  actual 
surroundings,  but  as  he  persisted  they  at  last  began  to  take 
him  seriously.  During  the  instructions  they  succeeded  in 
making  him  talk  about  his  power  as  a  magician. 

"  When  I  was  about  twenty  years  of  age,"  he  said,  "  I 
took  a  fancy  to  be  a  sorcerer,  but  I  found  I  could  do  very 
little  of  what  I  saw  the  others  doing.  When  I  tried  to 
handle  the  fire  I  always  burned  myself,  but  I  so  juggled 
with  it  that  people  thought  I  was  perfect  in  the  art.  Finally 
one  night  I  had  a  dream,  and  I  saw  myself  in  a  fire-dance, 
in  which  I  could  perform  all  the  ceremonies  without  dif- 
ficulty, and  I  heard  a  song  which  on  awakening  I  found 
I  could  sing  just  as  I  had  heard  it  in  my  dream.  At  the 
first  public  feast  I  sung  it,  and  little  by  little  I  fell  into  a 
trance,  and  I  discovered  that  I  could  carry  fire  in  my  hands 
and  mouth,  and  plunge  my  naked  arms  into  cauldrons  of 
scalding  water  without  feeling  the  slightest  pain.  In  a  word 
I  was  perfect  in  the  art,  and  during  the  twenty  years  I 
practiced  magic,  I  had  sometimes  three  or  four  of  those 
dances  in  a  single  day.  Indeed,  instead  of  burning  myself, 
I  felt  cool  and  refreshed."  He  added  that  he  could  never 
succeed  in  his  performances  unless  he  had  on  his  person 
the  articles  which  he  had  seen  in  his  dream.     Hence  he 

146 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

always  held  a  preparatory  dance  in  which  he  called  for 
what  he  needed. 

He  was  at  last  baptized,  though  with  much  misgiving, 
but  immediately  he  w^as  a  changed  man.  He  led  a  pure 
life,  and  abandoned  his  work  as  a  sorcerer.  He  was  ready 
for  any  thing  that  would  be  helpful  to  the  missionaries, 
and  when  the  call  was  made  for  a  search  party  to  go 
down  to  the  Neutral  country  he  offered  himself,  although 
there  was  important  public  business  demanding  his  attend- 
ance, absence  from  which  would  give  rise  to  much  discon- 
tent ;  but  he  did  not  care,  and  with  another  Huron  and  two 
servants  of  the  mission  he  set  out  on  his  journey.  He 
arrived  at  St.  William's  just  as  the  blizzard  was  abating. 
The  Fathers  were  more  than  happy  to  see  him,  and  prepared 
to  return  home.  The  weather  was  intensely  cold,  but 
there  was  a  crust  on  the  snow  that  made  travelling  com- 
paratively easy;  and  so,  bidding  farewell  to  their  kind 
hostess  they  started  out  with  their  guides  for  St.  Mary's. 
For  tw^o  days  their  snow  shoes  were  of  use,  but  after  that 
the  trouble  began.  Chaumonot  relates  that  they  were  able 
to  drag  their  sleds  over  sixty  miles  of  ice  on  the  frozen 
water  courses,  but  had  to  pay  for  it  by  many  a  fall  of  which, 
he  said,  "  I  bear  the  marks  still  on  my  knees."  "  The  w^ater 
course  "  he  speaks  of,  was  probably  the  river  that  leads  up 
to  Lake  Simcoe.  Strangely  enough  he  says  nothing  what- 
ever in  his  letter  about  what  occurred  as  they  came  near  the 
end  of  their  journey. 

De  Brebeuf  fell  on  the  ice  and  for  a  time  was  unable  to 
stir.  When  he  revived,  he  discovered  that  his  collar  bone 
was  broken,  but  he  said  nothing  of  it  to  the  others.  He 
was  evidently  in  great  pain,  how'ever,  and  was  obliged 
to  lean  on  his  companions.  He  could  not  lift  his  feet  from 
the  ground  and  had  to  crawl  up  the  ice-hills  on  his 
knees,  and  then  slide  down  the  opposite  declivities  to  avoid 
another  fall.  They  offered  to  make  a  sled  to  drag  him 
for  the  remaining  thirty-six  miles  of  the  journey,  but  he 

147 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

refused,  probably  because  he  did  not  want  to  make  pack- 
horses  of  his  companions,  or  it  may  be  because  he  was 
fulfilhng  a  vow  which  he  had  made  ten  years  before,  to  do 
every  thing  in  the  most  perfect  way  under  pain  of  sacrilege. 

The  journey  lasted  altogether  four  days.  During  the 
night,  of  course,  they  slept  in  the  snow,  for  as  Chaumonot 
says:  "there  were  no  other  inns  in  those  parts."  Finally, 
on  St.  Joseph's  day,  they  reached  St.  Mary's  "  in  time  to 
say  Mass,"  the  chronicler  is  careful  to  note,  while  he  adds : 
"  thus  affording  them  a  happiness  which  they  had  not  en- 
joyed during  their  long  absence;"  a  piece  of  information 
which  is  most  valuable,  for  we  are  made  aware  that  during 
those  four  months,  the  Holy  Sacrifice  was  no  where  offered 
in  the  Neutral  country.  Of  course  everything  was  done 
for  de  Brebeuf  in  order  to  relieve  the  pain  which  he  was 
continually  suffering,  but  there  was  no  surgical  aid  avail- 
able in  those  rough  surroundings,  and  it  cost  him  eighteen 
months  of  uninterrupted  agony.  Meantime  he  refused  all 
aid  in  his  ministerial  work.  He  was  bent  on  getting  more 
than  his  share  of  a  promise  made  to  him  in  a  vision  near 
Niagara,  when  he  saw  a  cross  which  "  covered  the  whole 
country  and  was  large  enough  for  everyone." 

In  those  memorable  five  months  the  two  missionaries 
had  come  in  contact  with  about  3,000  Indians,  and  the 
rest  of  the  people  had  at  least  heard  about  the  purpose  of 
their  apostolic  visit,  so  that  the  seed  of  the  Gospel  can  be 
said  to  have  been  sown  among  the  Neutrals  at  that  time, 
even  if  most  of  it  fell  on  rocks  or  was  choked  by  weeds. 
However,  the  work  was  not  altogether  fruitless.  They 
caught  many  a  little  babe  just  gasping  its  last,  and  "  made 
it  an  angel ;  "  and  a  number  of  old  and  sick  and  dying 
people  seemed  only  to  have  been  waiting  for  their  coming. 

Another  event  happened  during  that  journey  which  gave 
de  Brebeuf  and  his  companions  considerable  comfort.  A 
wandering  tribe  known  as  the  Awenrehronnons  had  come 
from  the  other  side  of  Lake  Erie  to  seek  refuge  among 

148 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUR 

the  Neutrals.  These  poor  exiles  gladly  welcomed  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  listened  to  all  that  was  said  to  them  about  the 
Faith.  A  few  were  baptized,  but  as  it  was  impossible  to 
stay  with  them  any  length  of  time,  and  as  they  were,  unfor- 
tunately, a  very  degraded  set,  nothing  could  be  done  for  them 
just  then.  Nevertheless  they  had  caught  something  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Gospel  and  may  have  carried  at  least  a  few 
faint  recollections  of  it  elsewhere  in  their  wanderings. 
"  God,  no  doubt,"  said  the  missionaries,  "  would  gather  His 
harvest  in  some  way  or  other  later  on."  Thus  even  apart 
from  the  splendid  heroism  which  it  evoked — and  that  would 
be  triumph  enough — the  work  among  the  Neutrals  was  not 
altogether  a  failure. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  not  an  exact  itinerary 
of  that  great  expedition.  We  know,  indeed,  where  the 
first  village  of  Kandoucho  or  All  Saints  was,  for  it  is  put 
down  at  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  directly  south  of 
St.  Mary's  on  the  Wye.  About  Niagara,  of  course,  there 
is  no  doubt,  but  where  were  the  other  sixteen  villages  which 
they  visited  ?  The  old  map  of  Creuxius,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1660,  but  whose  geography,  as  all  agree,  is  that 
of  1647-48,  furnishes,  however,  some  precious  information. 
On  it  we  find  that  Khiotea  or  St.  Michael's,  the  only  place 
where  any  respect  was  paid  to  them,  lies  as  far  west  as 
Lake  St.  Clair,  and  consequently  beyond  the  present  city 
of  Detroit.  Thus  these  two  apostles  must  have  travelled 
the  whole  length  of  Lake  Erie.  Two  other  sites  are 
also  indicated :  St.  Francis,  which  was  situated  where  Lake 
Huron  empties  into  Lake  St.  Clair;  and  St.  Joseph's,  which 
apparently  occupies  the  actual  site  of  Detroit.  St.  Alexis 
is  down  near  Lake  Erie,  and  north  of  it  is  Our  Lady  of 
Angels,  a  name  given  to  the  whole  territory,  but  which  may 
also  have  been  bestowed  on  some  particular  place.  Neither 
of  these  names,  however,  can  be  found  in  the  "  Relations." 
Unfortunately  the  one  village  which  would  give  us  most 
pleasure  to  find,  Creuxius  has  omitted,  namely  Teatonguia- 

149 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

ton  or  St.  William's  where  the  valiant  squaw  stood  up  so 
sturdily  in  their  defense.  It  is  thought  to  have  been  about 
the  middle  of  the  Neutral  territory. 

What  became  of  their  guide,  the  converted  sorcerer 
Teondechoren?  Not  only  did  he  remain  a  fervent  Chris- 
tian, but  a  great  preacher  of  the  Faith.  When  Jogues 
started  down  to  Quebec  with  the  dying  Raymbault,  Teonde- 
choren accompanied  him,  and  before  going  he*  addressed 
the  braves  in  a  discourse  which  reads  like  a  splendid 
sermon.  At  its  conclusion  he  made  them  all  kneel  down 
and  consecrate  themselves  to  God. 

They  reached  Quebec,  and  Teondechoren  embarked  with 
Jogues  for  the  return  journey.  They  were  captured  by  the 
Mohawks  and  led  into  the  Iroquois  country  with  the  mis- 
sionary, where  Teondechoren  spent  an  entire  year,  but  was 
finally  able  to  escape  and  make  his  way  to  Quebec.  There 
he  told  the  story  of  the  disaster,  and  it  is  from  him  we 
have  many  of  the  details  of  that  memorable  event.  At 
Quebec  he  consoled  the  nuns  by  giving  them  information 
about  Therese,  the  little  Huron  girl  who  had  been  educated 
at  the  convent,  but  who  when  returning  to  her  country  with 
Father  Jogues,  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Mohawks ; 
he  told  how  she  had  remained  good  and  pious  in  the  midst 
of  the  corruption  of  the  Indian  town ;  how  she  used  to  say 
her  beads  on  her  fingers  or  on  pebbles  which  she  would 
place  on  the  ground ;  how  she  used  to  go  to  confession  to 
Father  Jogues  whenever  he  was  brought  into  her  neigh- 
borhood by  her  savage  masters.  He  was  heart-broken  at 
not  being  able  to  take  the  child  with  him  when  he  fled, 
for  she  was  his  niece,  the  daughter  of  the  famous  Chiwa- 
tenwa,  and  it  was  he  who  had  sent  her  down  to  the  convent 
at  Quebec  after  the  death  of  his  brother.  But  it  was  im- 
possible to  save  her. 

Bidding  good-bye  to  his  white  friends  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence, he  started  for  home  with  a  party  of  Hurons.  They 
w^ere  caught,  however,  by  the  Iroquois,  and  lost  twenty  of 

150 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

their  men  and  a  large  part  of  their  provisions.  That  was  bad 
enough,  but  in  addition  they  were  completely  routed  farther 
up  the  river,  probably  at  the  Chaudiere,  and  Teondechoren 
was  left  bleeding  to  death  on  the  rocks  from  a  bullet  hole 
in  his  shoulder.  Ordinarily  he  Vv'ould  have  been  abandoned, 
but  his  companions  heard  him  praying  so  fervently  to 
God  to  let  him  see  the  Fathers  before  he  died,  that  they 
carried  him  back  all  the  way  to  St.  Mary's.  His  happiness 
brought  about  his  speedy  recovery. 

He  continued  his  pious  manner  of  life,  and  after  the 
destruction  of  the  missions  we  find  him  at  Isle  d'Orleans 
with  the  remnants  of  his  tribe.  While  there  he  gave  an 
example  of  chastity  which  recalls  the  classic  ones  of  Holy 
Scripture;  but  in  spite  of  his  irreproachable  life,  his  wife 
was  insanely  jealous,  and  although  the  difficulty  was  patched 
up  by  the  Fathers  it  was  continually  revived.  Poor 
Teondechoren  stood  it  for  a  year,  when  Heaven  inter- 
vened. He  and  a  party  of  Hurons  had  gone  down  to 
Tadoussac  to  sell  their  furs  when  a  squall  struck  the  canoe, 
and  they  all  disappeared  in  the  depths  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
His  wife's  scoldings  had  come  to  an  end. 


151 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Down  at  Quebec. 

When  Father  Vimont,  the  new  Superior  General,  arrived 
in  Canada,  he  was  naturally  desirous  of  knowing  something 
about  the  condition  of  the  Huron  missions,  and  as  the  one 
best  informed  was  de  Brebeuf,  he  was  sent  down  to  report. 
Probably  the  desire  to  put  him  in  the  hands  of  whatever 
doctors  Quebec  might  possess  at  the  time  had  also  some- 
diing  to  do  with  the  choice.  Hence,  at  the  end  of  the 
summer  of  1641,  he  and  Father  du  Peron,  with  four  French- 
men and  six  Indians  started  down  the  river  and  reached 
Quebec  in  safety.  He  had,  however,  a  very  narrow  escape 
when  approaching  Three  Rivers. 

Five  hundred  Iroquois  had  come  up  from  the  Mohawk, 
but  had  sent  a  detachment  ahead  to  intercept  any  Hurons 
who  might  be  descending  the  St.  Lawrence.  They  saw 
de  Brebeuf's  canoe,  but  it  was  too  late  to  catch  him,  so  they 
did  not  even  reveal  themselves.  They  pounced  on  another 
party  that  followed  close  behind,  slaughtered  some  of  the 
braves,  and  made  many  prisoners.  Those  who  escaped 
brought  the  news  of  the  disaster  to  Three  Rivers.  "  The 
unhappy  captives,"  writes  Vimont,  who  is  writing  his  first 
report  of  these  happenings,  "  were  carried  off  to  be  flung 
into  the  flames,  and  to  be  made  the  food  of  savage  stomachs. 
Such  are  the  obsequies,  and  such  the  grave,  that  we  can 
expect,  in  case  we  fall  into  the  claws  of  these  tigers,  or 
rather  if  we  are  delivered  up  to  the  fury  of  these  demons." 

This  escape  of  de  Brebeuf  was  the  basis  of  a  curious  story 
which  began  to  circulate  among  the  Hurons.  One  of  their 
warriors  had  succeeded  in  slipping  away  from  the  Iroquois, 
and  reported  that  while  he  was  in  the  enemy's  country,  an 
Iroquois  came  to  him  and  said :  "  You  ought  to  know  that 

152 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

there  is  a  mutual  understanding  between  Echon  and  the 
Iroquois  to  destroy  the  Hurons.  That  is  the  reason  he 
went  a  short  time  ago  among  the  Neutrals,  who  are  so 
close  to  the  Senecas.  While  he  was  there  the  Iroquois 
envoys  visited  him  at  night  in  his  cabin,  and  exchanged 
presents  with  him.  He  told  them :  '  we  blackrobes  have 
killed  a  great  many  Hurons  by  our  spells  and  incantations. 
You  Iroquois  must  now  finish  the  work  with  your  toma- 
hawks. When  the  Hurons  are  all  destroyed,  I  and  my 
companions  will  go  and  live  with  your  tribes.'  You  saw 
how  we  let  his  canoe  pass  on  the  way  down  the  St.  Law- 
rence. It  was  he  who  gave  us  the  information  about  the 
party  that  was  following  close  behind  him." 

Echon  was  used  to  such  accusations.  He  had  heard  them 
frequently  in  Huronia,  so  that  this  additional  one  did  not 
disturb  him,  and  he  hurried  down  to  Quebec  to  induce  the 
Algonquins  to  accompany  Ragueneau  and  Menard  up  to  the 
missions.  They  had  attempted  it  but  had  failed.  The  In- 
dians were  too  frightened  to  try  it  again.  De  Brebeuf,  him- 
self, would  have  gladly  led  the  expedition,  but  he  had  other 
orders.  He  therefore  presented  himself  to  his  superior, 
and  as  if  he  had  never  done  anything  else,  he  settled 
down  at  his  desk  in  Quebec  to  keep  books  and  busy 
himself  with  the  temporal  concerns  of  his  brethren.  He 
applied  himself  with  as  much  zeal  to  that  work  as  if  he 
were  hunting  for  wandering  Indians  in  the  forests  near 
Lake  Huron. 

His  three  years  absence  is  declared  by  Jerome  Lalemant 
to  have  been  a  sore  trial  for  those  whom  he  left  behind  in 
Huronia.  No  one  understood  the  savages  as  well  as  he. 
He  had  been  the  first  in  the  field,  and  was  familiar  with  all 
their  moods  and  methods.  His  perfect  grasp  of  their  lan- 
guage, while  making  him  most  acceptable  to  them,  was 
invaluable  in  preventing  any  error  of  judgment  on  the  part 
of  the  missionaries  about  the  purport  of  private  or  public 
acts  or  speeches.     Ragueneau  speaks  in  the  highest  terms  of 

153 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  rare  discernment  and  wisdom  which  characterized  his 
advice  about  measures  to  be  adopted,  and  the  manner  of 
carrying  them  out.  He  had  an  amazing  influence  with 
the  Indians,  for  though  they  dreaded  him  as  The  Great  Sor- 
cerer, they  paid  him  the  tribute  of  admiration,  and  even  in 
many  instances  displayed  genuine  affection  for  him.  Al- 
though his  life  was  in  constant  danger,  it  was  not  on  account 
of  any  personal  animosity  on  the  part  of  the  savages.  It 
was  merely  a  public  opposition  to  his  avowed  purpose  of 
doing  away  with  their  traditional  policies  and  beliefs,  which 
they  were  convinced  he  had  the  power  to  do,  even  to  the 
extent  of  inflicting  great  national  calamities  on  the  tribe  if 
they  opposed  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  not  the 
Hurons  who  finally  killed  him,  but  the  Iroquois,  who  knew 
him  only  as  a  sorcerer,  and  they  were  convinced  that  he  had 
laid  waste  one  of  their  populous  villages  and  would  inflict 
greater  damage  if  he  were  not  done  away  with. 

In  a  word,  his  absence  from  the  missions  meant  a  with- 
drawal of  a  great  element  of  protection  for  his  associates, 
as  well  as  the  privation  of  a  sublime  example  of  apostolic 
enthusiasm  and  zeal  which  buoyed  up  all  those  who  came 
in  contact  with  him.  They  were  all  remarkable  men,  but 
he  was  like  a  king  among  them.  Supreme  however,  as  he 
was,  he  always  claimed  the  hardest  and  most  repulsive 
works  as  his  by  right.  The  Indians  called  him  Echon — "  the 
man  that  drags  the  loads."  "  I  am  like  an  ox,"  he  used  to 
say,  referring  to  his  name  of  de  Brebeuf,  and  he  would  stick 
to  his  paddle  or  continue  at  his  toil  of  any  kind  from 
morning  till  night.  He  was  the  first  to  leap  into  the  water 
to  drag  the  canoe  through  the  rapids,  and  was  the  last  to 
leave  it  no  matter  how  icy  cold  the  torrent  might  be.  It 
was  he  who  prepared  the  morning  meal,  and  when  others 
were  buried  in  sleep,  he  was  still  toiling;  and  all  the  while 
with  such  apparent  ease  that  it  seemed  to  cost  him  nothing ; 
and  what  is  more  noteworthy,  no  matter  how  he  was 
crushed  with  work  or  wearied  with  plodding  over  roads  that 

154 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

were  full  of  terror  for  others,  often  compelling  the  bravest 
to  give  up  in  despair,  he  would  keep  at  it  day  after  day 
for  a  month  at  a  stretch,  without  rest,  without  relaxation, 
sometimes  without  stopping  to  eat,  except  to  snatch  a  bite 
when  he  could,  and  nevertheless  finding  time  to  perform 
all  the  religious  duties  the  rule  enjoined.  He  never  omit- 
ted a  single  one  of  the  ordinary  devotions,  beginning  them 
early  in  the  morning,  before  others  were  out  of  their  blan- 
kets, and  continuing  them  late  into  the  night  when  everyone 
else  was  buried  in  sleep. 

One  almost  shudders  to  hear  that  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  all  these  privations,  hardships  and  sufferings,  but  that 
he  scourged  himself  to  blood  with  disciplines,  sometimes 
twice  a  day,  and  that  he  continually  wore  on  his  body,  hair- 
cloth and  sharp  pointed  iron  cinctures.  And  nevertheless, 
with  all  this,  like  St.  Paul,  he  was  in  constant  fear  of  losing 
his  soul.  There  was  found  among  his  writings :  "  I  fear 
I  shall  be  among  the  reprobates  unless  God,  who  has  treated 
me  so  gently,  will  give  me  an  opportunity  of  suffering."  He 
was  working  out  his  salvation  in  fear  and  trembling. 

He  was  hungry  for  humiliation,  for  no  matter  how  low 
he  was  placed,  he  thought  he  was  much  higher  than  he 
deserved.  Sometimes  to  co-operate  with  what  they  saw 
was  the  working  of  grace,  his  superiors  did  not  spare  him 
even  public  humiliations,  but  they  never  succeeded  in  dis- 
turbing his  tranquihty  of  soul,  or  causing  a  shadow  on  his 
countenance,  which  was  invariably  sweet  and  benign. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  dealing  with  his  fellow  Jesuits  that 
he  was  so  gentle.  They  often  used  to  look  at  him  with 
amazement  in  the  midst  of  a  mob  of  shrieking  Indians, 
who  were  denouncing  him  as  a  devil  and  clamoring  for 
his  blood ;  charging  him  with  the  calamities  that  had  come 
upon  them ;  striking  him  with  their  clubs  and  fists  till  he 
was  livid  with  wounds ;  spitting  upon  him ;  tearing  his  gar- 
ments to  tatters,  while  through  it  all  he  remained  smiling 
and  serene,  expostulating,  explaining,  and  entreating,  and 

155 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

finally  subduing  them  to  silence,  and  even  to  avowed  and 
astonished  admiration. 

Ragueneau,  who  knew  him  perfectly,  says :  "  During  the 
twelve  years  that  we  were  together,  whether  he  was  su- 
perior, or  on  the  same  level  with  the  rest  of  us,  whether  en- 
gaged in  temporal  or  spiritual  affairs,  settling  difficulties 
with  the  savages  or  the  civilized  Christians,  whether  dealing 
with  friends  or  enemies,  in  the  midst  of  sufferings,  persecu- 
tions and  calumnies,  never  did  I  see  him  angry  or  even  show- 
ing the  slightest  sign  of  resentment.  Often  we  would  try  to 
hurt  him  in  matters  where  we  supposed  he  might  be  some- 
what sensitive,  but  his  eye  would  look  at  you  as  kindly 
as  if  he  were  not  at  all  concerned.  His  peace  of  soul  was 
an  extraordinary  and  special  gift  of  God.  He  was  more- 
over so  poor  in  earthly  possessions  that  he  had  not  even 
a  medal.  His  purity  was  so  marvellous,  that  he  did  not 
appear  to  remark  the  reek  of  immorality  around  him.  In- 
deed, he  appeared  to  be  a  thousand  miles  away  from  it. 
With  him  the  body  was  in  absolute  subjection  to  the  soul." 

He  was  eager  to  die.  "  O,  my  God,"  he  wrote  a  short 
time  before  his  death,  "why  art  Thou  not  known?  Why 
is  this  barbarous  country  not  converted?  Why  is  not  sin 
abolished?  Why  art  Thou  not  loved?  O,  my  God!  if 
all  the  cruel  torments  which  the  captives  can  endure  in  this 
country  should  fall  on  me,  I  accept  them  with  my  whole 
heart,  I  alone  am  willing  to  suffer  all  the  pains  that  the 
martyrs  have  undergone." 

Nine  years  before  his  death,  he  wrote  this  terrible  vow : 

"  Jesus,  my  God  and  Savior,  what  can  I  give  Thee  in 
return  for  all  Thou  hast  given  to  me?  I  will  take  from 
Thy  hand  the  chalice  of  suffering,  and  will  invoke  Thy 
name.  I  therefore  vow  in  presence  of  the  Eternal  Father 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  Thy  most  holy  Mother,  and 
her  chaste  spouse,  St.  Joseph;  before  the  Angels,  Apostles 
and  Martyrs,  and  my  blessed  Fathers  Ignatius  and  Francis 
Xavier,  never  to  miss  the  grace  of  martyrdom,  if,  out  of 

156 


JOHN  DE  BREBEUF. 

Thy  mercy,  Thou  dost  offer  it  some  day  to  Thy  unworthy 
servant.  I  bind  myself  in  such  fashion,  that  it  will  not  be 
lawful  for  me,  where  I  am  free  to  avoid  the  occasion  of 
dying  and  shedding  my  blood  for  Thee,  except  in  so  far  as 
I  judge  that  it  is  for  Thy  glory  that  I  should  do  otherwise. 
And  when  I  am  about  to  receive  the  stroke  of  death,  I 
bind  myself  to  accept  it  from  Thy  hand  with  pleasure  and 
joy  of  heart.  And  since  Thou  hast  deigned  to  die  for  me, 
I,  therefore,  my  beloved  Jesus,  offer  Thee  from  this  day 
forth  in  the  sentiments  of  joy  which  I  now  feel,  my  body, 
my  blood  and  my  life,  in  order  that  I  may  die  for  Thee 
alone,  if  Thou  grantest  me  that  grace.  Let  me  so  live  that 
Thou  wilt  grant  me  this  favor  of  dying  thus  happily. 
Hence,  my  Saviour  and  my  God,  I  take  from  Thy  hand 
the  chalice  of  Thy  suffering  and  I  will  invoke  Thy  name, 
Jesus,  Jesus,  Jesus." 

Is  there  anything  like  that  in  the  lives  of  the  saints,  and 
is  it  any  wonder  that  heavenly  visions  were  vouchsafed  to 
such  a  lover?  We  are  not  surprised  that  he  saw  Our  Lord, 
and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  troops  of  angels  and  saints, 
that  he  was  assailed  by  devils,  and  that  he  overcame  them. 
Indeed  these  apparitions  are  so  frequent  as  to  be  almost 
bewildering,  and  we  are  prone  to  fancy  that  we  are  reading 
of  an  anchoret  in  the  desert  devoting  his  life  to  contempla- 
tion and  penance,  instead  of  a  missionary  toiling  for  years  on 
the  trail,  in  the  forests  and  in  the  wigwams  of  the  degraded 
savages.  The  mystery  of  it  all  is  that  such  a  man  did  not 
convert  every  one  of  those  wretched  beings  for  whom  he 
spent  his  soul. 

He  remained  three  years  at  Quebec,  or  rather  at  Sillery; 
for  except  in  winter  he  went  up  to  the  city  only  on  Sundays 
and  Feast  days,  to  hear  confessions  and  preach.  So  that, 
as  there  are  a  good  five  months  of  winter  in  Canada,  Sillery 
saw  most  of  him.  There  was  an  Indian  colony  there,  and 
also  the  Hotel  Dieu,  but  that  institution  was  removed  not 
long  after  a  visit  he  paid  to  it  with  another  illustrious  per- 

157 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

sonage.  As  the  chronicle  of  the  hospital  records  that  event 
with  more  than  usual  detail,  it  fortunately  furnishes  us 
with  two  very  precious  portraits. 

"  We  were  very  much  alarmed  about  our  isolation  at  Sil- 
lery,"  writes  the  good  nun  who  was  the  historian  of  the 
house,  "  when  one  morning,  our  new  superior  who  had 
just  been  elected  was  called  to  the  parlor  by  two  Jesuit 
Fathers.  One  of  them  was  somewhat  small  in  stature 
and  frail  in  his  general  appearance.  His  features  were 
regular  and  delicate,  his  face  oval,  and  his  large  and  well 
developed  forehead  suggested  a  fine  intellectuality,  but  on 
the  whole  his  physiognomy  denoted  a  character  made 
rather  to  obey  than  to  command.  He  wore  a  beard,  as 
did  most  of  the  missionaries  who  were  obliged  to  live  in 
the  woods  with  the  savages.  His  soutane,  which  was  very 
much  worn  and  patched,  bore  the  marks  of  many  a  hard 
journey  in  the  forests.  He  kept  his  eyes  cast  down,  the 
result  of  long  habits  of  recollection,  and  he  had  the  appear- 
ance of  great  reserve.  In  fact,  he  appeared  timid  and  a 
little  awkward,  so  much  so  that  a  man  of  the  world  might 
have  smiled  at  him.  No  one  but  his  superiors  would 
suspect  the  indomitable  energy  of  this  humble  priest  when 
he  was  acting  under  obedience  or  from  supernatural  con- 
viction. 

"  When  Mother  St.  Ignace  came  to  the  grating  she  could 
not  refrain  from  an  exclamation  of  delight  and  surprise: 
*  What,'  she  cried,  '  is  it  you,  Father  Jogues  ?  How  happy 
we  were  to  hear  of  your  arrival  at  Quebec,  after  all  the 
dangers  you  encountered  ' ! 

"  '  It  was  indeed  he,'  continues  the  chronicle.  '  He  had 
returned  from  the  Huron  country  on  the  14th  of  July. 
With  that  sublime  simplicity  that  characterized  him  in 
everything  he  did,  he  undertook  the  perilous  journey  at 
the  first  intimation  of  the  superior's  wish.  He  did  not 
hesitate  a  moment  to  expose  his  life  to  all  the  risks  of  an 
expedition  of  o-ver  three  hundred  leagues,  through  a  coun- 

1.58 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

try  swarming  with  Iroquois.  He  and  his  companions  es- 
caped only  by  a  happy  combination  of  circumstances,  which 
they  never  could  have  hoped  for.  He  was  now  going  back 
again  over  the  very  same  route,  and  he  had  come  to  bid 
good-bye  to  the  community  of  Sillery.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  another  Jesuit  who  was  equal  to  him  in  courage 
and  merit,  but  who  was  endowed  with  a  totally  different 
character  and  temperament.  Physically  he  was  built  like 
an  athlete;  spiritually  he  was  still  more  remarkable.  His 
strong  features  revealed  his  decision  of  mind  and  vigor 
of  character.  On  fire  like  Father  Jogues  with  apostolic 
zeal  and  the  passion  for  suffering,  he  longed  like  him  for 
the  crown  of  martyrdom.  He  was  destined  to  win  it  after 
Jogues,  and  on  another  field,  in  the  midst  of  a  gory  tragedy 
which  announced  the  doom  of  a  nation.  He  was  no  other 
than  Father  de  Brebeuf,  the  giant  of  the  missions." 

The  frightened  nuns  anxiously  inquired  about  the  dangers 
which  their  isolated  position  exposed  them  to  in  the  raids 
which  were  becoming  frequent  around  Montreal  and  Three 
Rivers,  which  Jogues  told  them  about. 

"  Do  you  think  they  will  come  as  far  as  this,"  asked  the 
Mother  Superior.  "  Not  just  now,"  answered  de  Brebeuf, 
"  but  it  is  not  impossible.  Their  boldness  has  increased 
since  the  Dutch  have  supplied  them  with  fire  arms."  "  What 
do  you  advise  us  to  do?  "  he  was  asked.  "  You  may  have 
to  leave  Sillery,"  w^as  the  answer. 

Jogues  bade  them  farewell  and  started  for  Three  Rivers, 
which  he  left  on  August  1.  He  never  reached  the  Huron 
country.  The  next  year  de  Brebeuf  fitted  out  a  flotilla  for 
Bressani,  but  that  hero  shared  the  fate  of  Jogues.  It  was 
he  who,  as  w^e  have  recorded  elsewhere,  overheard  the 
Iroquois  planning  to  swoop  down  on  Sillery,  and  he  wrote 
on  a  piece  of  bark  which  he  fixed  to  a  stake :  "  The  Iroquois 
are  on  their  way  to  Sillery;  they  want  to  carry  off  the 
White  Virgins."  A  Huron  found  it,  and  hurried  with  it 
to  Quebec.     The  people  read  it  with  blanched  faces,  and 

159 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Montmagny  ordered  the  removal  of  the  convent.  The 
Fathers  of  course  remained  with  their  Indians. 

Just  before  this  visit  to  the  hospital  a  sad  accident 
occurred  which  caused  universal  grief  throughout  the  colony 
as  well  as  among  the  Indians.  For  de  Brebeuf  it  was  also 
a  great  personal  loss.  We  refer  to  the  tragic  death  of  his 
friend,  John  Nicolet,  with  whom  he  had  travelled  many  a 
mile  over  the  trails  of  the  Northwest,  and  who,  though  only 
a  layman,  was  a  most  devoted  and  efficient  co-operator  in 
the  evangelization  of  the  savages.  He  must  ever  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  conspicuous  figures  in  Canadian  his- 
tory. He  had  come  out  to  the  colony  in  1618,  a  light 
hearted  lad  whom  every  one  loved,  but  the  lure  of  the 
wild  led  him  to  live  among  the  savages.  He  wanted  to 
make  his  fortune  by  becoming  an  Indian  interpreter;  so 
he  buried  himself  for  two  years  with  the  Algonquins,  hunt- 
ing with  them,  travelling  with  them  in  their  interminable 
tramps  through  the  country,  starving  with  them  and  sharing 
every  danger  like  the  most  reckless  brave  of  the  tribe. 
On  one  occasion  he  supported  life  for  seven  weeks  by 
gnawing  the  bark  of  trees.  He  took  particular  pride  in  the 
fact  that  he  had  helped  to  make  the  first  treaty  with  the 
Mohawks,  when  he  went  down  into  their  country  with  four 
hundred  Algonquins.  It  was  a  short  time  after  the  Dutch 
had  taken  possession  of  Manhattan. 

For  nine  years,  also,  he  lived  among  the  Nippisiriens, 
at  the  Isle  des  Allumettes.  He  was  adopted  by  the  tribe; 
had  his  own  lodge,  and  assisted  at  all  the  councils.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  he  was  recalled  to  Three  Rivers,  and  established 
as  clerk  in  the  Company  of  the  One  Hundred  Associates,  in 
whose  interests  he  had  been  thus  far  living  among  the 
Indians,  so  as  to  ensure  peace,  and  also  to  stimulate  trade. 
He  had  been  even  commissioned  to  discover  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  the  passage  to  China,  for  every  one,  even  Cham- 
plain,  nourished  that  delusion,  and  Nicolet  was  so  convinced 
that  success  would  follow  his  efforts  that  he  provided  him- 

160 


JOHN    DE  UREBEUF. 

self  with  a  Chinese  dress,  and  when  he  reached  Lake 
Michigan  he  decked  himself  out  in  damask  robes,  all  em- 
broidered with  birds  and  liowers,  and  presented  himself  in 
that  guise  to  four  or  five  thousand  Indians  to  see  if  he 
could  arouse  any  recollection  in  their  minds  of  their  sup- 
posed Chinese  ancestry.  He  succeeded  at  least  in  terrifying 
the  squaws,  when  he  shot  off  his  two  huge  horse-pistols. 
They  took  him  for  a  demon,  holding  thunder  and  lightning 
in  his  hands. 

Of  course  he  never  reached  China,  but  returned  to  Three 
Rivers  where  from  that  out  he  lived  until  summoned  to 
Quebec.  He  had  a  brother,  a  secular  priest  who  had  come 
out  as  the  chaplain  of  jNIontmagny,  but  who  withdrew  to 
P'rance  a  year  before  the  Governor's  recall.  There  was  also 
another  member  of  the  family,  a  sailor  in  the  service  of  the 
Company  of  the  One  Hundred  Associates,  who  was  at 
Quebec  in  1640. 

He  married  only  in  1637.  His  bride  was  the  grand- 
daughter of  the  famous  Louis  Hebert,  the  patriarch  of  the 
Canadian  colonists.  The  nuptials  were,  of  course,  most 
solemn,  and  like  many  other  things  in  those  early  days  the 
match  was  romantic.  Gosselin,  in  his  "  Jean  Nicolet,"  gives 
us  a  transcript  of  the  contract  with  all  its  conditions.  It 
was  signed  by  several  of  the  distinguished  men  and  women 
of  the  time,  but  it  does  not  appear  from  the  document  that 
the  bridegroom  had  as  yet  adopted  the  appendix  to  his  name 
of  de  Belleborne,  which  his  admiring  biographer  declares  to 
be  "  a  ridiculous  but  harmless  vanity."  We  are  astonished 
to  hear  that  the  maiden.  Marguerite  Couillard,  had  reached 
the  advanced  age  of  eleven,  and  one  almost  hopes  there  was 
a  mistake  in  the  register,  or  a  fault  on  the  copy.  But  it 
seems  to  be  true,  and  when  Nicolet  died  on  October  27, 
1641,  she  had  already  borne  him  two  children.  Not  only 
that,  but  we  are  informed  that  her  daughter  grew  up  to 
be  a  distinguished  young  lady,  "  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
married  Jean  Baptiste  Le  Gardeur  de  Repentigny.     "  Their 

161 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

son,"  says  Suite,  "  was  Augustin  Le  Gardeur  de  Courte- 
manche,  an  officer  who  achieved  fame  by  many  useful 
services  in  the  west,  and  was  the  worthy  contemporary  of 
Nicholas  Perrot,  and  an  honorable  descendant  of  his  grand- 
father Nicolet." 

From  his  retirement  at  Three  Rivers,  Nicolet  had  been  sum- 
moned down  to  Quebec  to  take  the  place  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  Le  Tardiff,  as  one  of  the  chief  officials  of  the  company. 
He  was  hardly  there  a  month  when  alarming  news  was 
brought  to  him.  The  Algonquins  had  captured  an  Indian 
belonging  to  a  tribe  which  was  allied  with  the  Iroquois,  and 
were  already  torturing  him  at  the  stake.  The  consequences 
would  be  disastrous  if  he  w-ere  killed,  for  it  would  provoke 
another  war  with  the  Iroquois.  No  one  could  prevent  the 
execution  but  Nicolet,  and  messengers  were  hurried  down 
to  beg  him  to  come  to  the  rescue.  A  terrible  storm  was 
raging  at  the  time ;  the  north  wind  was  lashing  the  St.  Law- 
rence into  fury.  The  weather  was  bitter  cold,  and  the  ice 
was  forming  on  the  shores.  It  was  already  seven  o'clock 
at  night  when  the  intelligence  reached  him,  and  the  sky 
was  dark  and  forbidding,  but  he  hurried  down  to  the  shore. 
De  Chavigny's  shallop  had  hoisted  sail  and  was  about  to 
make  for  Sillery.  Nicolet  leaped  aboard  and  the  little 
bark  started  out  on  the  wild  waves. 

They  were  just  doubling  the  Pointe-a-Puiseaux  when  a 
squall  struck  them,  and  flung  the  boat  bottom  up  in  the 
furious  river.  The  occupants  clung  to  it,  but  the  night  was 
pitch  dark,  and  though  they  were  near  the  shore  no  object 
could  be  seen.  Perishing  with  cold  and  worn  out  by  the 
waves,  the  men  dropped  off  one  by  one  and  disappeared. 
Nicolet  still  kept  his  hold,  but  felt  his  strength  giving  way, 
and  at  last  de  Chavigny  heard  his  voice  in  the  darkness : 
"Good-bye,  de  Chavigny,  make  for  the  shore ;  you  can  swim ; 
I  am  going  to  God.  Bid  good-bye  to  my  wife  and  children." 
Then  all  was  over.  The  boat  struck  a  rock  and  de 
Chavigny,  after  a  short  swim,  found  his  footing,  and  grop- 

162 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF.  • 

ing  through  tlie  darkness  stumbled  into  the  Jesuit  house 
which  was  near  at  hand.  For  an  hour  he  could  scarcely 
utter  a  word,  and  finally  he  told  the  story;  Nicolet  was 
drowned  only  a  few  rods  away. 

They  never  found  the  body.  Consternation  and  grief 
took  possession  of  the  colony.  The  Indians,  especially, 
were  alarmed.  They  had  lost  a  friend,  a  protector,  and  a 
father,  and  they  ran  like  crazy  people  up  and  down  the 
beach  screaming  out:  "  Achirra!  Achirra!  where  art  thou? 
Hast  thou  left  us  and  shall  we  never  see  thee  more?" 
Indians  rarely  weep,  but  we  are  told  that  their  eyes  were 
streaming  with  tears  as  they  gave  vent  to  their  lamentations. 

So  died  this  wonderful  voyageur,  almost  within  reach  of 
his  friends,  and  one  asks  in  amazement  how  the  man  whose 
w^hole  life  was  in  constant  peril  on  lakes  and  rivers  and 
amid  roaring  cataracts,  was  unable  to  swim  a  few  strokes 
that  would  have  so  easily  brought  him  to  the  shore.  One 
is  also  prompted  to  ask  did  de  Brebeuf,  who  was  then  at 
Sillery,  urge  that  question  upon  himself  while  weeping  over 
the  untimely  death  of  his  friend?  He  also,  over  and  over 
again,  had  been  in  danger  of  drowning,  and  yet  had  never 
learned  to  swim  though  it  would  seem  to  have  been  de- 
manded by  the  commonest  laws  of  prudence. 

It  is  comforting  to  know  that  the  savage  for  whom 
Nicolet  sacrificed  his  life  was  saved.  He  appeared  at  Sil- 
lery twelve  days  after,  and  when  his  wounds  were  healed 
he  was  sent  dow^n  to  the  Abenaquis  where  he  belonged. 
It  is  more  comforting  still  to  know  that  Nicolet  "  went  to 
God  "  prepared.  He  was  totally  unlike  the  scapegraces  of 
coiireurs  who  scoured  the  woods,  and  brought  ruin  on  them- 
selves and  discredit  on  their  religion.  Though  living  so 
long  among  the  Indians  his  life  was  irreproachable,  and 
Fatlier  Charles  Lalemant  probably  referred  to  him  in  the 
"  case  of  conscience,"  that  was  sent  to  France  to  determine 
whether  Christian  men  could  thus  voluntarily  shut  them- 
selves ofif  from  the  possibility  of  practicing  the  duties  of 

163 


PIONEER  l^RIESTS  OE  NORTH  AMERICA. 

their  religion  by  living  among  the  Indians.  There  would 
not  have  been  much  dit^culty  if  the  men  in  vjuestion  were  all 
like  Nicolet,  for  he  not  only  gave  no  scandal,  but  was  an  in- 
valuable hel])er  for  the  priests.  He  was  ever  ready  to 
instruct  the  Indians,  and  he  himself  sought  them  out  to  put 
them  on  the  way  of  salvation. 

Some  idea  of  the  character  of  the  man  may  be  obtained 
from  the  list  of  books  composing  the  little  library  he  had 
gathered  together  for  his  own  use.  Small  as  it  is,  it  rep- 
resents the  careful  gathering  of  years,  and  meant  much 
in  those  rough  days.  Gosselin  gives  us  the  inventory, 
which  is  so  brief  that  it  may  be  put  down  here.  It  consisted 
of  "  The  Metamorphosis  of  Ovid ; "  "  The  Relation  of 
10o7;"  "Portuguese  Discoveries  in  the  West  Indies;" 
"Collection  of  Gazettes  from  1634;"  "A  Book  on  Fen- 
cing; "  "  Inventory  of  Science;  "  "  History  of  St.  Ursula;  " 
"  Meditations  on  the  Life  of  Christ;  "  "The  Secretary  of 
the  Court;"  "The  Clock  of  Devotion;"  "The  Way  to 
Live  for  God;  "  "  Elements  of  Logic;  "  "  The  Holy  Duties 
of  a  Devout  Life;"  "History  of  Portugal;"  "Missal;" 
"  Life  of  the  Redeemer  of  the  World ;  "  "  History  of  the 
West  Indies ;  "  two  books  of  music,  a  package  of  old  books, 
and  finally  "  The  Lives  of  the  Saints  "  in  folio. 

It  is  very  illuminative  of  his  piety  that  when  he  was 
summoned  down  to  Quebec  he  carried  with  him  the  large 
folio  volume  of  the  "  Lives  of  the  Saints."  One  can  easily 
conclude  that  when  the  waves  of  the  St.  Lawrence  closed 
over  this  great  man,  the  gates  of  heaven  were  opened  to 
admit  him  to  the  reward  of  a  noble  and  well  spent  life. 
The  place  where  this  tragedy  occurred  was  probably  on  the 
Quebec  side  of  Pointe-a-Puiseaux,  in  the  bay  known  by  the 
general  name  of  Sillery  Cove,  though  to  every  part  of  it 
the  lumbermen  or  proprietors  have  assigned  different  names 
as  their  fancy  prompted  them.  The  eastern  end  of  the  bay 
is  where  Wolf  landed  his  troops  in  1759. 

164 


CHAPTER    IX. 
The  Tragedy. 

While  de  Brebeuf  was  at  Oiiebec,  several  efforts  to  reach 
the  missionaries  in  Huronia  had  been  made,  but  without 
success.  As  we  have  ah-eady  noted,  Jogues  had  been  led 
into  captivity  in  1642,  and  Bressani  met  a  similar  fate  in 
the  following  year.  Finally,  in  IC-l-i,  de  Brebeuf  himself 
started  up  the  river.  This  time,  however,  an  escort  of 
twenty  soldiers  made  part  of  the  expedition,  a  precaution 
it  would  seem  that  should  have  been  always  taken.  With 
Fathers  Chabanel  and  Garreau,  both  of  whom  were  to  shed 
their  blood  for  the  Faith,  he  reached  St.  Mary's  on  Sep- 
tember 17th  of  that  year. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  follow  him  for  the  few  remain- 
ing years  of  his  life,  for  Ragueneau,  who  wrote  those  ''  Re- 
lations," is  very  unsatisfactory  because  of  the  vagueness 
with  which  he  sets  down  what  occurs.  It  is,  however, 
certain  that  he  was  still  at  St.  Mary's  on  October  8th, 
for  we  find  a  record  in  his  papers  of  a  vision  he  had  there 
on  that  date.  He  saw  himself  and  his  companions  wearing 
garments  all  stained  with  blood.  In  1645,  however,  he 
came  into  prominence  because  of  an  apostolic  expedition 
made  among  the  Algonquins,  who  were  living  north  of 
what  is  now  known  as  the  Muskoka  region.  The  raids  of 
the  Iroquois  had  been  so  incessant  that  many  of  the  Hurons 
had  fled  thither  for  safety,  and  he  went  to  see  them.  It 
was  a  difficult  journey  of  five  or  six  days  over  lakes  and 
rivers,  through  vast  solitudes  and  trackless  forests,  but  it 
was  a  trifle  for  him.  He  found  only  one  Christian  family 
among  the  exiles,  which  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  the 
Christians  were  more  patriotic  than  their  pagan  relatives, 
and  were  willing  to  fight  for  their  country  to  the  last.    That 

165 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Christian  family  gave  him  no  rest.  Night  and  day  they 
wanted  to  talk  upon  religious  matters,  and  to  form  plans 
for  the  future.  With  difficulty  he  tore  himself  away  from 
them.  Indeed  they  were  forced  to  let  him  go,  for  the  ice 
was  forming  on  the  lakes,  and  any  further  delay  might  cost 
him  his  life  by  cold  or  starvation.  He  finally  reached  St. 
Ignatius,  where  he  could  not  fail  to  see  that  the  end  was 
fast   approaching.     The   nation   was   doomed. 

A  glimmer  of  hope,  however,  appeared  in  the  possibility 
of  making  defensive  alliances  with  the  neighboring  Neu- 
trals. They  had  been  the  victims  of  an  outrageous  breach 
of  hospitality,  for  a  whole  section  of  their  people  had  been 
butchered  by  the  Senecas,  who  had  been  admitted  to  the 
wigwams  as  welcome  guests.  But  after  a  little  anger  they 
lapsed  into  their  former  attitude  of  non-interference.  It  is 
more  than  likely  that  had  they  combined  with  the  Petuns 
and  Hurons  in  a  defensive  alliance,  they  would  have  been 
able  to  check  the  whole  Iroquois  invasion,  especially  as 
a  good  turn  done  to  an  Onondaga  chief  had  almost  secured 
the  help  of  three  of  the  great  Iroquois  tribes  against  the 
Mohawks.  The  Onondagas  were  quarreling  with  them  be- 
cause of  the  trade  in  furs;  but  after  tedious  and  multiplied 
embassies  to  and  fro,  all  the  negotiations  ended  by  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  Huron  envoys,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
remorseless  Senecas. 

Hope  once  more  revived  when  the  Andastes  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Delaware  presented  themselves,  and  proposed 
to  destroy  the  Iroquois.  Again  there  were  long  journeys 
and  continually  reiterated  embassies,  which  consumed  very 
precious  months  and  involved  countless  dangers  in  the 
official  journeys,  but  like  the  rest  it  all  ended  in  disappoint- 
ment. In  each  of  these  negotiations,  it  may  be  noted, 
Christian  chiefs  were  chosen  as  the  representatives  of  the 
tribe;  which  would  imply  that  they  were  at  that  time  the 
controlling  factor  among  the  Hurons.  But  two  great  dis- 
asters occurred  to  the  Hurons  towards  the  end  of  the  winter 

166 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

of  1648.  A  party  of  about  three  hundred  men  and  women 
were  encamped  in  the  woods  only  about  two  days'  journey 
from  their  principal  town,  when  a  band  of  Senecas  swooped 
down  upon  them.  The  main  body  of  the  people  were  scat- 
tered just  then  hunting  and  fishing,  and  when  they  returned 
they  found  seven  of  their  warriors  weltering  in  their 
blood.  The  women  and  children  had  been  carried  off  into 
captivity,  and  there  was  no  sign  of  the  Senecas  except  the 
results  of  their  sanguinary  visitation. 

Nearly  all  the  victims  in  this  instance  were  Christians, 
among  them  the  young  Ignatius  Saonaretsi,  who  was  like  an 
Indian  Aloysius.  At  early  dawn  he  was  always  found  in  the 
chapel  reciting  his  beads  and  assisting  at  Mass.  Throughout 
the  day  he  was  continually  praying.  His  purity  of  soul  was 
angelic,  and  we  are  told  that  he  never  looked  at  a  woman. 
When  his  people  urged  him  to  marry  he  refused,  alleging 
that  he  knew  none  of  the  marriageable  women  of  the  tribe. 
He  was  ready  for  heaven  and  the  Lord  took  him. 

That  massacre  was  bad  enough,  but  it  was  followed  by 
another  immediately  after.  When  the  people  went  out  to 
bury  their  dead,  a  hundred  Iroquois  fell  upon  them  and 
a  second  list  of  fifty  killed  or  captured  was  added  to  the 
black  record  of  this  calamitous  period.  Evidently  a  new 
arrangement  of  the  villages  had  to  be  made  to  ensure  better 
protection,  and  hence  it  was  resolved  to  change  the  location 
of  the  mission,  and  St.  Ignatius  II  was  begun.  It  was  then 
the  spring  of  1648.  The  new  site  was  admirably  chosen 
for  defense,  for  in  the  "  Relation  "  of  1649  we  read  :  "  It 
was  enclosed  by  a  palisade  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet  high,  and 
encircled  by  a  deep  ravine,  with  which  nature  had  power- 
fully fortified  the  place  on  three  sides,  leaving  but  a  small 
space,  weaker  than  the  others,  on  the  fourth  side."  That 
weak  spot  w^as  a  plateau  where  the  Fathers  had  insisted  on 
building  a  stockade. 

This  site  has  been  identified  by  Father  Jones,  the  Archivist 
of  St.   Mary's  College,   Montreal,  who  thus  describes  it: 

167 


PIONEER  i'RlESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

"  From  the  brow  of  the  hill  where  the  declivity  is  steepest, 
we  have  a  commanding  view  of  the  Rosemount  Ridge, 
towards  the  east  and  southeast,  and  the  eye  plunges  deep 
into  the  sombre  valley  of  Sturgeon  Bay  that  lies  at  our  feet. 
Turning  toward  the  north  and  northeast,  the  eye  ranges 
over  the  waters  of  Sturgeon  Bay,  and  the  greater  Matche- 
dash,  and  takes  in  a  wide  stretch  of  country  in  the  Muskoka 
district,  while  a  little  further  east  it  sweeps  over  Gloucester 
Pool,  the  mouth  of  the  Severn,  and  no  small  extent  of  the 
North  or  Black  River  Valley. 

"  Vastly  grander  visions  of  the  beautiful  and  sublime  in 
nature  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  confines  of  the  great 
Dominion,  from  the  beetling  crags  of  Trinity  Rock,  the 
towering  masses  of  Cape  Eternity  on  the  Saguenay,  to  the 
fairy  scenes  of  enchanting  beauty  in  the  Islands  of  the 
St.  Lawrence;  from  Niagara,  with  its  deafening  roar  of 
waters  plunging  into  depths  unknown,  to  the  silent  solitudes 
of  Selkirk,  whose  glittering  peaks  cleave  the  clouds  above. 
All  these  surpass  it  immeasurably,  either  in  majesty  or  the 
perfection  of  detail,  but  no  spot  on  the  continent  is  hal- 
low^ed  by  a  nobler  sacrifice  for  the  Master  than  was  consum- 
mated on  this  hill-top,  a  few^  acres  in  extent,  and  which  lay 
for  two  centuries  and  a  half  lost  in  the  recesses  of  the 
forest.  Such  was  St.  Ignatius  II.  If  it  had  been  properly 
defended,  instead  of  being  the  tomb,  it  would  have  been  the 
impregnable  citadel  of  the  Huron  nation." 

It  was  the  16th  of  March,  1649.  Day  was  just  breaking 
after  a  stormy  night,  and  the  advance  guards  of  over  one 
thousand  Iroquois,  who  had  been  concealed  in  the  forest, 
crept  stealthily  in  the  snow  towards  the  unprotected  part 
of  the  palisade.  They  were  discovered,  and  a  wild  shriek 
of  alarm  summoned  to  arms  the  few  braves  who  were 
present.  They  met  the  foe  and  twice  repulsed  them,  but 
it  was  too  late.  Nearly  all  the  inhabitants  were  slaughtered, 
and  the  few  who  escaped  the  tomahawk  were  reserved  for 
death  by  fire. 

168 


JOHN    DE  BREBEUF. 

De  Brebeuf  and  his  young  companion,  Gabriel  Lalemant, 
who  had  joined  him  only  one  month  before,  were  at  that 
moment  in  the  village  of  St.  Louis,  four  kilometers  away, 
where  there  were  no  less  than  seven  hundred  Hurons ;  most 
of  them,  however,  women  and  children,  or  old  and  infirm 
men.  The  braves  were  away  hunting,  or  foolishly  trying 
to  discover  if  the  Iroquois  were  coming  into  the  country. 
Some  half  naked  fugitives  from  St.  Ignatius  hurried  to 
give  the  alarm,  but  the  Iroquois  were  already  at  their  heels. 
There  was  scarcely  time  to  dismiss  the  women  and  children, 
and  to  assemble  eighty  warriors  for  the  defense.  They 
saw  that  all  was  lost,  but  determined  to  sell  their  lives  as 
dearly  as  possible.  They  begged  the  priests  to  withdraw, 
but  the  offer  was,  of  course,  refused. 

The  sun  was  already  lighting  up  the  scene  when  the  Iro- 
quois appeared,  and  attempted  to  scale  the  palisade.  The 
first  assault  was  attended  with  heavy  loss,  for  thirty  of  their 
warriors  fell  dead  and  many  were  wounded.  The  check, 
however,  was  only  momentary,  and  the  fight  raged  fiercely 
on  all  sides,  but  what  could  eighty  men  do  against  such  a 
host?  Indeed  it  speaks  well  for  the  prowess  of  the  Hurons, 
that  every  attempt  to  scale  the  palisades  was  repulsed,  and 
the  Iroquois  resorted  to  another  means  of  gaining  an  en- 
trance to  the  village.  They  began  to  cut  their  way  through 
the  stockade  with  their  hatchets.  At  last  an  opening  was 
made,  but  the  breach  was  quickly  blocked  by  the  bodies  of 
the  besieged,  only  to  be  hacked  to  pieces  in  their  frantic 
effort  to  drive  back  the  foe.  The  enemy  were  now  inside 
the  fort. 

While  all  this  fiendish  work  was  going  on,  the  two  priests 
were  hurrying  hither  and  thither,  staunching  the  blood  of 
the  wounded,  baptizing  the  neophytes  and  absolving  the 
dying  Christians.  They  were  scarcely  aware  of  the  near- 
ness of  the  Iroquois,  who  in  turn  did  not  know  that  the 
priests  were  there.  At  the  sight  of  the  black  gowns  they 
stopped  for  a  moment  in  their  work  of  massacre.     It  was 

169 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

an  unexpected  capture.  There  was  Echon,  the  Great  Sor- 
cerer himself,  and  with  fiendish  glee  they  fell  upon  the 
missionaries,  stripped  them  naked,  and  bound  them  fast, 
first  tearing  off  the  nails  of  their  victims  to  forestall  any 
attempt  to  escape. 

The  battle  was  soon  over.  Every  one  who  resisted  was 
butchered  and  the  prisoners  were  headed  towards  St.  Ig- 
natius. As  they  turned  to  gaze  for  the  last  upon  St. 
Louis,  they  saw  the  wigwams  a  mass  of  flames,  while  the 
savage  Iroquois  hurried  from  place  to  place,  dragging  from 
the  blood-clotted  snow  the  old  men  and  wounded  warriors 
and  flinging  them  shrieking  into  the  fire.  The  people  in 
St.  Mary's,  a  league  away  saw  the  conflagration  at  nine 
o'clock.  The  color  of  the  smoke  made  them  only  too  certain 
of  what  had  happened,  their  conclusions  being  confirmed 
shortly  after  by  the  fugitives  who  flocked  in  and  told  the 
sad  story. 

Shivering  with  the  bitter  cold  and  with  their  dripping 
blood  leaving  tracks  in  the  snow,  de  Brebeuf  and  his  com- 
panion slowly  dragged  themselves  through  the  stockade  of 
St.  Ignatius.  As  they  entered  the  gate  they  walked  between 
two  lines  of  infuriated  savages,  who  struck  at  them  with 
knives,  and  clubs,  and  stones.  They  were  led  to  the  stakes  at 
which  they  were  to  be  burned  to  death.  They  showed  no 
fear.  On  the  contrary,  de  Brebeuf  fell  on  his  knees  before 
the  one  to  which  he  was  to  be  bound,  and  kissed  it  as  a  priest 
kisses  the  altar.  "  Father,"  he  said,  turning  to  Lalemant, 
"  we  are  made  a  spectacle  before  heaven  and  the  angels  and 
men."  To  the  Christian  Hurons  around  him,  some  of 
whom  were  later  on  to  meet  the  same  fate,  he  said :  "  In 
your  sufferings  lift  up  your  eyes  to  heaven.  Remember  that 
God  will  reward  you.  Do  not  falter.  The  torments  you 
must  undergo  will  be  brief.  The  glory  to  follow  will  be 
everlasting."  "Echon,"  they  replied,  "fear  not  for  us; 
our  thoughts  will  be  in  heaven  while  our  bodies  are  suf- 
fering on  earth.     Pray  for  us  to  the  Master  of  life  that 

170 


JOHN   DE  BREBEUF. 

He  may  have  mercy  on  us."  His  people  assured  him  that 
they  would  be  faithful. 

When  the  braves  had  assembled,  the  torture  began;  de 
Brebeuf,  as  the  great  chief,  being  the  first  victim.  The 
fire  was  lighted  and  the  flames  climbed  around  his  limbs 
while  his  executioners  plunged  hot  prongs  into  his  flesh, 
pressed  fire-brands  against  the  most  sensitive  parts  of  his 
body,  cut  off  strips  of  his  flesh  and  roasting  them  in  the 
fire  devoured  them  before  his  eyes ;  but  not  once  during  this 
atrocious  torture  did  this  wonderful  man  wince  or  groan. 
He  uttered  no  reproach,  and  spoke  only  to  sustain  the 
courage  of  the  Christians  around  him.  But  his  words  only 
made  his  torturers  more  furious.  They  slashed  off  his  nose 
and  lips,  shattered  his  teeth  with  their  clubs,  and  filled  his 
mouth  with  fire.  His  voice  was  now  stilled,  but  his  wounds 
spoke  to  all  the  Christians  who  stood  shuddering  at  the 
hideous  spectacle,  the  mere  description  of  which  one  would 
fain  avoid,  but  as  this  is  history,  it  must,  at  least  be  hurried 
through  with,  while  omitting  the  more  shocking  details. 

As  cynically  as  any  civilized  enemy  of  religion,  one  of  the 
savages  exclaimed :  "  You  have  always  told  people  it  was 
good  to  suffer.  Thank  us  for  this,"  and  he  dropped  over 
the  head  of  the  victim  a  necklace  of  red  hot  tomahawks, 
which  eat  their  way  hissing  and  spluttering  into  the  flesh. 
"  You  like  to  baptize  us,"  cried  a  Huron  apostate,  "  let  us 
see  how  you  like  it  yourself;  "  and  with  a  mocking  laugh, 
he  poured  cauldron  after  cauldron  of  scalding  water  on 
the  head  of  the  priest. 

No  sign  of  weakness  had  yet  been  extorted  from  the  suf- 
ferer. Something  must  be  done  to  make  him  quail,  and 
so  a  flaming  cincture  of  birch  bark  soaked  in  pitch  was  tied 
around  his  waist,  and  under  his  armpits.  His  scalp  was 
torn  off  and  a  poultice  of  hot  ashes  applied  to  the  ghastly 
wound.  Not  a  single  spot  remained  on  his  body  that  had 
not  been  scarified  by  fire  or  gashed  with  knives.  Finally, 
when  no  new  species  of  torture  suggested  itself,  and  it  was 

171 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

found  that  not  a  moan  could  be  wrung  from  the  sufferer, 
they  clove  his  head  with  a  tomahawk  and  thus  ended  his 
three  hours  of  agony.  Finally  they  tore  out  his  heart  and 
drank  the  blood,  so  as  to  imbibe,  as  they  fancied,  some  of  his 
wonderful  courage. 

Thus  died  Father  John  de  Brebeuf  at  the  age  of  fifty-six. 
It  was  the  16th  of  March,  a  day  ever  memorable  in  the 
annals  of  Canada.  Around  his  corpse  danced  the  mob  of 
shrieking  savages,  reeking  with  his  blood,  and  with  morsels 
of  his  flesh  in  their  teeth;  beyond  was  the  burning  village 
of  St.  Louis,  from  which  he  had  been  taken,  and  standing 
over  him  was  his  frail  and  delicate  companion,  Gabriel 
Lalemant,  all  bloody,  and  wrapped  in  the  inflammable  bark 
which  was  soon  to  consume  his  flesh.  Lalemant  gazed  upon 
his  beloved  Father  lying  in  the  snow  at  his  feet,  and  waited 
for  his  own  sacrifice  which  was  to  be  more  terrible  than 
that  of  de  Brebeuf. 


172 


GABRIEL  LALEMANT 


MARTYRDOM    OF    DE 


BRRBEUF    AND    LALEMANT. 

(In    the   Cathedral,    Montreal.) 


GABRIEL  LALEMANT. 

While  de  Brebeuf  was  being  put  to  death  anxious  eyes 
were  strained  in  the  direction  of  St.  Ignatius,  from  the 
palisades  of  St.  Mary's.  Every  now  and  then  an  Indian 
runner  could  be  seen  making  for  the  fort  to  tell  what  was 
happening  at  St.  Ignatius.  Their  coming  was,  at  first,  a 
cause  of  alarm,  for  at  a  distance  it  was  hard  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  Iroquois.  Indeed,  every  one  felt  sure  that 
St.  Mary's  would  soon  be  attacked ;  for  Iroquois  scouts  had 
been  prowling  around  that  afternoon,  and  as  was  told  after- 
wards, they  had  reported  back  to  their  chiefs  that  the  place 
could  be  taken. 

Meantime  Lalemant  was  waiting  for  death.  One  hour 
passed,  and  then  another;  and  at  last  his  torture  began.  It 
is  unnecessary  to  go  over  the  hideous  details.  It  was  a 
repetition  of  what  had  been  inflicted  on  his  companion.  One 
or  two  horrors,  however,  were  added.  As  he  turned  his 
gaze  frequently  to  heaven,  his  eyes  were  torn  out  and  burn- 
ing coals  thrust  into  the  sockets ;  though  a  corrected  edition 
and  du  Creux's  account  seem  to  indicate  that  only  one  was 
thus  dealt  with.  To  prevent  him  from  speaking  or  praying, 
fire  brands  were  not  merely  placed  in  his  mouth,  but  forced 
down  into  his  throat.  They  slit  both  his  thighs,  one  in  the 
form  of  a  cross,  and  then  passed  hot  tomahawk  edges  along 
the  whole  length  of  the  wounds  into  the  very  bones.  When 
he  lifted  his  hands  in  prayer,  they  beat  them  down  with 
clubs,  and  forced  him  to  his  feet  again  when  he  attempted 
to  kneel.  But  the  most  appalling  feature  of  his  torture 
was  that  it  lasted  fifteen  hours ;  that  is,  from  six  o'clock  at 
night  till  nine  next  morning,  for  the  Indians  did  not  permit 
their  victims  to  die  between  sunset  and  sunrise.  On  that 
account,  they  refrained  while  torturing  him  from  touching 
any  vital  part,  but,  of  course,  the  prolongation  of  the  agony 

175 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

was  worse  than  death  itself.  At  last,  weary  of  their  work 
they  crushed  his  skull  with  the  blow  of  a  tomahawk.  It 
was  then  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  March, 
1649. 

Some  writers  in  describing  these  terrible  scenes  have 
naturally  drawn  on  their  imagination,  and  represented  the 
martyr  as  uttering  heart-rending  cries  while  writhing  in 
agony.  As  he  was  a  man  of  extremely  delicate  constitution 
that  would  naturally  have  suggested  itself;  but  it  is  pure 
fiction.  Poncet,  who  wrote  about  his  death  two  months 
later,  says :  "  Instead  of  indignantly  or  angrily  upbraiding 
his  executioners,  or  uttering  words  of  complaint,  such  as 
nature  might  have  wrung  from  him,  he  did  nothing  but  cast 
his  eyes  up  to  heaven  and  kissed  the  stake  to  which  he  was 
tied  to  make  his  last  offering  to  God." 

Lalemant  was  no  weakling.  He  had  been  preparing  for 
that  battle  for  sixteen  years.  He  had  prayed  to  God,  and 
importuned  his  superiors,  till  he  was  sent  to  the  missions. 
During  the  two  years  he  was  at  Quebec  he  knew  everything 
that  was  going  on  in  Huronia.  He  was  fully  aware  of  the 
proximity  of  the  Iroquois.  The  death  of  Daniel  had  just 
occurred  and  he  was  familiar  with  its  horrors,  and  it  was 
with  full  knowledge  of  what  might  happen  that  he  entered 
the  village  of  St.  Ignatius  one  month  before  he  was  to  be 
a  mangled  and  disfigured  corpse  on  its  bloody  snow.  Hero- 
ism was  in  his  nature.  He  was  the  nephew  of  Jerome  and 
Charles  Lalemant ;  the  brother  of  a  Carmelite  nun,  who,  on 
hearing  of  his  death,  knelt  down  and  sang  a  Magnificat, 
and  the  son  of  a  mother  who,  when  his  triumph  was  an- 
nounced, forsook  the  world  and  consecrated  herself  as  a 
nun  in  the  cloister.  His  preparedness  for  the  kind  of  death 
he  suffered  was  revealed  in  a  document  found  among  his 
papers.     It  reads  as  follows : 

"  O  my  God  and  my  Saviour !  since  Thou  hast  abandoned 
all  comfort,  all  health,  all  glory,  all  joy  and  a  life  itself  to 
save  wretched  me,  is  it  not  proper  1st,  that  I  should  give  up 

17G 


GABRIEL  LALEMANT. 

all  things  for  the  salvation  of  souls  whom  Thou  regardest 
as  Thine  own,  who  have  cost  Thee  Thy  blood,  and  of  whom 
Thou  hast  said :  '  What  you  do  to  the  least  of  these  you 
do  unto  me.' 

"  2d — Even  if  I  were  not  prompted  by  a  spirit  of  gratitude 
to  make  a  holocaust  of  myself,  I  should  with  all  my  heart 
do  so  out  of  consideration  for  Thy  adorable  majesty  and 
Thine  infinite  goodness,  which  deserves  man's  immolation 
and  joyful  sacrifice  of  himself  in  order  to  fulfil  what  he 
conceives  to  be  Thy  will  in  his  regard,  and  in  pursuance  of 
the  special  inspiration  Thou  hast  given  him  to  promote 
Thy  greater  glory. 

"  3d — Since  I  have  been  so  wretched  as  to  offend  Thy 
goodness  so  grievously,  O  my  Jesus !  it  is  just  that  I  should 
pay  the  penalty  by  extraordinary  sufferings,  and  thus  walk 
in  Thy  presence  for  the  rest  of  my  life  with  an  humble  and 
contrite  heart,  undergoing  the  sufferings  which  Thou  didst 
submit  to  for  me. 

"  4th — Out  of  regard  for  my  relatives,  my  mother  and 
my  brothers  to  whom  I  owe  so  much,  and  in  order  to  draw- 
down upon  them  the  effects  of  Thy  mercy,  never  permit 
tliat  any  member  of  that  family,  which  Thou  lovest  so  much, 
should  perish  before  Thy  face,  or  be  among  those  who  blas- 
pheme Thee  for  ever;  and  for  that  end  let  me  be  a  victim 
for  them.  Since  I  am  prepared  to  be  scourged  for  them, 
burn  me,  smite  me,  in  order  that  Thou  shouldst  forever 
spare  them. 

"  5th — Yes,  my  Jesus,  my  love !  let  Thy  Blood,  which 
was  poured  out  for  the  savages  as  for  us,  be  applied  effica- 
ciously for  their  salvation.  Let  me  co-operate  with  Thy 
grace  and  be  immolated  for  them. 

"  6th — Thy  name  must  be  adored ;  Thy  kingdom  must 
be  extended  throughout  the  world,  and  my  life  must  be 
devoted  to  withdrawing  from  the  hands  of  Satan,  Thine 
enemy,  those  poor  souls  who  have  cost  Thee  Thy  life  and 
Thy  Blood. 

J  t  ( 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA'. 

"  7th — If  it  is  reasonable  that  some  one  should  sO'  hve 
to  give  comfort  to  Jesus  Christ,  even  sacrificing  a  thousand 
lives,  if  he  had  them,  along  with  the  loss  of  everything  that 
is  sweet  and  agreeable  to  nature,  thou,  my  soul,  wilt  find  no 
one  more  bound  to  do  so  than  thou.  Arise  then,  my  soul, 
and  let  us  holily  lose  ourselves,  in  order  to  give  this  consola- 
tion to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ;  He  deserves  it, 
and  thou  canst  not  do  otherwise,  unless  thou  wishest  to  live 
and  die  ungrateful  for  His  love." 

The  prayer  in  the  fifth  paragraph  was  answered  to  the 
letter  "  Let  me  co-operate  with  Thy  grace  and  be  immolated 
for  the  savages."  His  love  for  his  family  as  expressed  in 
the  passage  immediately  preceding  is  well  worthy  of  notice. 

Beyond  this  we  know  very  little  about  Gabriel  Lalemant. 
He  was  born  in  Paris  in  the  year  1610,  entered  the  novitiate 
of  that  city  which  had  already  trained  for  an  apostolic 
career  his  illustrious  uncle  Jerome,  and  after  the  usual  course 
of  studies  and  teaching  in  his  native  country,  he  arrived  at 
Quebec  in  1646.  People  wondered  that  such  a  frail  and 
delicate  mortal  could  have  aspirations  for  the  rude  life  of 
the  missions,  and  it  took  him  two  years  to  convince  his 
uncle,  who  was  superior  at  Quebec,  and  had  his  seven  years 
experience  in  Huronia,  that  such  was  the  will  of  God.  At 
last,  just  when  the  clouds  were  darkest  and  the  rumblings 
of  danger  filled  the  hearts  of  all  with  terror,  Gabriel  Lale- 
mant deliberately  entered  into  the  whirl  of  the  storm  and 
disappeared  in  its  fire. 

The  embers  were  not  cold  around  the  stake  where  he 
expired,  when  two  hundred  Iroquois  started  on  their  march 
to  destroy  St.  Mary's,  where  his  friends  were  awaiting  their 
death;  but  at  the  same  time  five  hundred  Hurons,  chiefly 
of  the  Bear  family,  were  about  taking  up  their  position 
on  the  trail  to  await  the  advancing  enemy.  Unfortunately, 
some  of  their  braves  who  were  sent  out  ahead  came  into 
collision  with  the  foe.  A  skirmish  ensued  which  grew  into 
a  general  battle,  and  finally  involved  the  main  body  of  the 

178 


GABRIEL  LALEMANT. 

Hurons.  The  furious  Iroquois  flushed  with  victory,  drove 
their  disheartened  foes  back  towards  the  very  pahsades  of 
St.  Mary's.  There,  at  last,  a  stand  w^as  made,  chiefly  by 
the  Christian  Indians  of  Ossossane  and  the  new  mission  of 
St.  Madeleine  who  had  come  to  the  rescue.  After  a  short 
struggle  the  Iroquois  reeled  and  then  retreated  in  confusion 
to  the  still  standing  palisades  of  St.  Louis,  which  was 
situated  between  St.  Mary's  and  St.  Ignatius.  The  Hurons 
followed  and  a  mad  fight  occurred  inside  the  stockade,  out 
of  which  the  Iroquois  were  driven.  The  Hurons  were  now 
in  possession  of  the  village.  Sortie  after  sortie  was  made 
leaving  numbers  of  the  braves  on  both  sides  dead  in  the 
snow.  The  Iroquois,  seeing  that  their  victory  was  to  be 
snatched  from  their  grasp,  sent  word  to  St.  Ignatius,  and 
the  main  body  of  their  countrymen  hurried  to  the  rescue. 
All  day  long  the  fight  continued,  and  well  on  into  the  night, 
until  at  last  only  twenty-five  Hurons  were  left  alive.  They, 
seeing  that  all  hope  was  gone,  threw  down  their  arms  and 
surrendered.  All  of  them  were  badly  wounded,  but  they 
had  slain  the  great  chief  and  one  hundred  of  the  bravest 
warriors  of  the  Iroquois. 

During  the  night  the  people  in  St.  Mary's  waited  with  their 
weapons  in  their  hands.  Any  moment  might  bring  the 
wild  whoop  of  the  enemy  to  their  ears.  They  were  all 
praying  fervently,  and  had  made  up  their  minds  to  die  to 
a  man  in  defense  of  the  town.  Day  dawned.  It  was  the 
18th  of  March.  No  sign  had  appeared  of  the  approaching 
foe.  Hour  after  hour  passed  by,  but  no  one  could  tell  what 
new  disaster  was  impending.  Still  no  enemy  came,  and 
another  night  of  terror  followed.  On  the  morning  of  the 
19th  an  unexplainable  panic  seized  the  Iroquois,  and  in  spite 
of  the  protests  of  their  chiefs,  they  fled  in  wild  confusion, 
driving  their  captives  before  them,  but  first  setting  fire  to 
the  town.  The  wounded  and  helpless  were  tied  to  the 
burning  wigwams  to  perish  in  the  flames,  and  while  the 
smoke  was  darkening  the  morning  sky,  the  blood-stained 

179 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

conquerors  liurried  down  to  Niagara.  Only  after  all  this 
had  occurred,  a  distant  Huron  village  heard  of  the  disaster. 
A  fugitive  squaw  had  brought  them  the  sad  tidings.  Im- 
mediately seven  hundred  braves  seized  their  arms  and  set 
out  in  pursuit.  But  they  soon  gave  up  the  chase.  They  did 
nothing  but  gather  up  a  few  mangled  bodies  of  their  brave 
people,  whom  the  fleeing  Iroquois  had  left  for  dead  on  the 
trail.  Had  the  Hurons  persevered,  they  might  even  then 
have  inflicted  an  irreparable  disaster  on  the  Iroquois,  who 
were  not  only  in  a  panic  but  completely  exhausted  by  the 
terrible  battle  they  had  fought. 

Some  Hurons  who  had  escaped  in  the  confusion  from 
St.  Ignatius  brought  the  news  to  St.  Mary's  of  the  departure 
of  the  Iroquois,  and  Father  Bonin,  Brother  Malherbe,  and 
seven  Frenchmen  were  sent  to  St.  Ignatius  to  reconnoitre 
and,  if  possible,  to  secure  the  remains  of  the  martyrs.  A  hor- 
rid spectacle  met  their  gaze.  The  ruins  of  the  wigwams  were 
still  smoking,  and  mutilated  corpses  littered  the  trampled  and 
blood-stained  snow.  But  where  were  the  beloved  dead 
they  were  seeking  for?  At  last  they  found  them  in  a  heap 
of  the  slain.  There  was  no  doubt  about  their  identity. 
They  were  more  horribly  gashed  and  hacked  than  the  rest, 
and  when  the  blood  was  washed  away  the  white  skin 
revealed  itself.  Filled  with  horror  the  searchers  fell  on 
their  knees  and  kissed  the  wounds  of  the  beloved  dead. 
The  grief  of  Father  Bonin  was  uncontrolled.  He  was 
Father  Lalemant's  most  intimate  friend,  and  for  more  than 
an  hour  he  knelt  weeping  and  sobbing  over  the  corpse  of 
the  man  he  so  tenderly  loved.  It  was  with  difficulty  he  could 
be  dragged  away  to  perform  the  sad  duty  of  burying  the 
Christian  Indians.  A  trench  was  dug  and  the  bodies  were  laid 
reverently  in  it.  The  prayers  were  said,  a  cross  was  placed 
over  the  mound,  and  then  the  blessed  remains  of  the  two 
priests  were  carried  in  solemn  procession  out  of  the  black- 
ened ruins  of  St.  Ignatius,  along  the  trail  that  led  to  St. 
Mary's.     The  little   fort  opened   its  gates  for  the  home- 

180 


GABRIEL   LALEMANT. 

coming  of  the  heroes,  and  the  people  followed  the  weeping 
mourners  to  the  house  of  the  Fathers,  where  the  bodies 
were  laid  to  await  the  obsequies  of  the  morrow.  "  We 
could  not  pray  for  them,"  w  rites  Ragueneau.  "  Our  only 
regret  was  that  we  had  not  shared  their  torture,  and  won 
the  same  crown.  I  would  willingly  call  them  martyrs,  if 
it  were  permitted,  not  only  because  it  was  the  love  of  God, 
and  the  salvation  of  souls  that  made  them  willingly  expose 
themselves  to  death  of  the  most  dreadful  kind,  but  especially 
because  hatred  of  the  Faith  and  of  the  name  of  God  was 
one  of  the  most  powerful  motives  which  impelled  the 
savages  to  treat  them  with  such  atrocious  cruelty." 

A  long  letter  of  Benin's,  giving  all  the  details,  is  referred 
to  by  Du  Creux.  It  was  probably  used  by  Father  Martin, 
but  the  document  is  now  nowhere  to  be  found.  What  oc- 
curred in  and  around  that  humble  cabin  on  that  memorable 
afternoon  of  March  20,  1649,  is  given  us  in  a  letter  of 
Brother  Regnault's,  written  years  afterwards  to  the  Jesuits 
of  Caen.  The  scene  was  evidently  still  as  vivid  in  his 
memory,  as  if  he  were  yet  kneeling  at  the  side  of  the 
martyrs.  What  he  says  of  himself  was  probably  also  done 
by  all  the  people  who  were  in  St.  Mary's  or  who  flocked 
in  from  the  country  round  to  gaze  for  the  last  time  at  the 
illustrious  dead : 

"  The  bodies  of  the  two  Fathers,"  he  says,  "  were  found 
at  St.  Ignatius,  a  little  apart  from  each  other,  and  carried 
to  our  cabin.  They  were  laid  upon  strips  of  bark,  and  I 
gazed  at  them  for  more  than  two  hours  to  see  if  what  the 
savages  had  told  us  of  their  martyrdom  was  true.  I  exam- 
ined first  the  body  of  Father  de  Brebeuf,  and  then  that  of 
Father  Lalemant.  The  legs,  thighs  and  arms  of  Father 
de  Brebeuf  were  stripped  of  flesh  to  the  very  bone.  I  saw 
and  touched  a  great  number  of  blisters  which  were  on 
various  parts  of  the  body,  where  the  boiling  water  had  been 
poured  on  him  in  mockery  of  Holy  Baptism.  I  saw  and 
touched  the  wounds  made  by  the  cincture  of  bark  soaked 

181 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

in  pitch,  which  had  scorched  the  whole  body.  I  saw  and 
touched  the  places  which  the  collar  of  hatchets  had  burned 
on  his  shoulders  and  breast.  I  saw  and  touched  the  place 
where  his  two  lips  had  been  cut  off  because  he  continued 
to  speak  of  God.  I  saw  and  touched  all  the  parts  of  his 
body  which  had  received  more  than  two  hundred  blows  of 
sticks.  I  saw  and  touched  the  crown  of  his  head,  which 
had  been  burned  with  fire.  Finally,  I  saw  and  touched  all 
the  wounds  of  his  body.  They  were  just  as  the  savages 
had  described  them." 

The  bodies  were  buried  on  Sunday  the  21st,  and  good 
Brother  Regnault  glories  in  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  those 
who  carried  them  to  the  grave.  They  were  disinterred, 
however,  when  St.  Mary's  was  abandoned  a  few  months 
later.  The  flesh  was  removed  from  the  bones,  which  were 
then  carefully  dried  and  wrapped  in  silk,  and  carried  over  to 
the  Island  of  St.  Joseph.  That  place  was  soon  deserted,  and 
the  precious  relics  were  then  brought  down  to  Quebec. 
Martin  says  that  "  on  account  of  the  length  and  difficulty 
of  the  journey,  they  could  not  take  any  more  than  a  part 
of  the  venerable  remains.  They  kept  at  least  the  head,  and 
placed  it  in  the  College  of  Quebec.  Before  the  destruction 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  Canada,  one  of  the  last  Jesuits  of 
Quebec  confided  the  treasure  to  the  Hospital  Sisters  where  it 
now  is.  There  are  also  some  of  Lalemant's  bones.  We  know 
that  two  fragments  were  sent  abroad,  one  to  the  Professed 
House  at  Paris,  and  the  other  to  Father  Lalemant's  sister, 
the  Prioress  of  the  Carmelites  of  Sens,  but  they  were  all 
swept  away  in  the  whirlwind  of  the  French  Revolution." 
It  is  curious  that  not  a  word  is  found  in  the  "  Journal  des 
Jesuites,"  of  the  reception  of  the  remains  of  the  Fathers. 

"  Four  years  after  their  death,"  continues  Martin,  "  the 
Archbishop  of  Rouen  whose  jurisdiction  then  extended  to 
Canada,  ordered  an  ofificial  inquiry  into  the  virtue  and  death 
of  the  missionaries.  We  have  a  copy  of  the  proceedings, 
each  document  being  accompanied  by  an  autograph  attesta- 

182 


GABRIEL  LALEMANT. 

tion  of  Father  Ragueneau,  given  under  oath,  which  may 
be  of  use  for  the  process  of  beatification  if  the  cause  is  ever 
introduced."  These  papers  are  in  the  archives  of  St. 
Mary's  College,  Montreal. 

After  two  hundred  and  sixty  years  the  cause  has  again 
been  taken  into  consideration.  The  tribunal  established 
for  the  hearing  of  testimony  was  in  session  for  more  than 
two  years  in  Quebec  in  1906  and  1907.  An  investigation 
as  to  the  7ton  cult,  that  is,  an  inquiry  whether  any  public 
worship  has  been  approved  or  tolerated  by  any  one  in  antici- 
pation of  the  action  of  the  Holy  See  was  also  made.  A 
great  number  of  witnesses  were  summoned,  and  the  docu- 
ments recounting  what  has  been  done  are  now  awaiting 
examination,  in  Rome.  If  they  are  canonized  the  New 
World  v^ill  have  two  glorious  patrons. 


1S3 


ANNE  DE  NOUE 


ANNE  DE  NOUE. 

In  the  times  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  there  was  a  famous 
old  general  named  de  None,  who  was  commonly  known  as 
bras  de  jcr,  because  of  an  iron  arm  that  he  wore  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  real  arm  he  had  lost  at  the  seige  of  Lamballe. 
Sometimes  he  was  on  the  Huguenot  side,  sometimes  he 
favored  the  Catholics.  Naturally  one  is  prompted  to  in- 
quire if  there  was  any  relationship  between  him  and  a  young 
page  named  Anne  de  Noue,  who  was  then  at  Court.  It  is 
quite  possible,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  very  little  is  known 
of  the  family  or  the  early  life  of  the  holy  missionary  who, 
in  1646,  perished  in  the  snow  on  the  frozen  St.  Lawrence. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  Seigneur  de  Villers-En-Priere  or 
Villers-en-Prairie  which,  we  are  told,  was  a  chateau  and 
village  six  or  seven  leagues  from  the  city  of  Rheims  in 
Champagne.  But  in  a  work  entitled  the  "  Communes  de 
France,"  which  gives  detailed  descriptions  even  of  villages 
of  one  hundred  inhabitants,  we  find  only  one  place  with  a 
designation  like  that  given  in  the  "  Relation."  It  is  Villers- 
en-Prayeres,  and  is  in  Picardy,  thirty-five  kilometres  from 
Soissons,  with  a  population  of  only  174.  Was  that  his 
birthplace? 

Again  his  name  is  written  de  Noue,  and  also  de  Noue, 
though  the  diaresis  is  sometimes  placed  on  the  u  instead  of 
the  e.  He  generally  put  the  mark  over  the  e.  Finally  he 
was  called  "  Anne,"  which  to-day  would  be  an  uncomfort- 
able name  for  a  boy ;  but  in  those  days,  even  the  illustrious 
Constable  de  Bourbon  was  known  as  Anne  de  Montmorency. 
To  add  to  the  confusion  there  are  two  dates  given  for  his 
birthday;  one  in  1687,  the  other  in  1679.  It  is  probably  the 
latter,  for  he  was  regarded  as  "old"  when  he  became  a  Jesuit 
Having  made  his  novitiate  he  was  sent  to  La  Fleche,  where 
he  studied  philosophy  for  three  years,  and  after  teaching  a 

187 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

low  class  at  Nevers  for  a  year,  he  began  a  four  years'  course 
of  theology  at  Paris.  It  is  somewhat  surprising  to  hear 
that  while  pursuing  his  studies  he  was  at  the  same  time 
siirvcillant ;  but  as  Henry  IV  was  just  then  establishing  a 
great  many  colleges  in  France  the  superiors  were  evidently 
short-handed,  and  we  find  that  condition  of  affairs  existing 
thirty  years  afterwards,  at  La  Fleche,  in  the  case  of  Gabriel 
Lalemant.  After  finishing  his  theology  he  was  appointed 
Minister  at  Bourges.  where  he  remained  for  two  years,  and 
then,  singularly  enough,  made  his  Third  Year  of  Probation 
in  the  same  house  immediately  afterwards.  When  that  was 
over,  he  and  Father  Noyrot  started  for  Canada,  where  they 
arrived  on  July  14,  1626. 

De  Brebeuf  and  the  Recollect  d'Aillon  had  meantime  been 
making  efforts  to  reach  the  Huron  country.  When  at  last 
Lhey  succeeded,  de  None  went  with  them.  "  They  arrived 
at  Toanche,"  says  Father  Martin,  "  but  de  None,  in  spite 
of  his  good  will  and  hard  work,  found  it  impossible  to  learn 
the  language  of  the  Indians,  and  he  thought  he  could  better 
serve  the  cause  by  returning  to  Quebec." 

As  the  language  was  extremely  difficult,  the  time  allotted 
to  test  his  powers  in  that  respect  would  seem  to  have  been 
altogether  too  short  to  make  that  a  motive  for  his  return, 
and  as  on  the  other  hand  Masse  was  the  only  Jesuit  left  in 
Quebec,  it  is  possible  that  other  reasons  may  have  prompted 
his  recall.  Very  likely,  also,  Masse  saw  the  approaching 
crisis.  In  1628  Kirke  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  city ; 
in  1629  Champlain  hauled  down  the  French  flag,  and  all 
the  missionaries,  including  de  Brebeuf,  were  sent  back  to 
France.  That  is  about  all  we  know  of  de  Noue's  first  three 
years  experience  in  America. 

In  1G32  we  find  him  again  setting  out  for  the  missions. 
He  is  among  the  first  to  be  chosen.  In  a  letter  of  Father 
Le  Jeune  to  the  Provincial,  dated  April,  1632,  we  read  : 

''  Being  advised  by  your  reverence  on  the  last  day  of 
March  that  I  should  embark  immediately  at  Havre  de  Grace 

188 


AXXE  DE  XOUE. 

and  go  straight  to  New  France,  I  felt  more  satisfaction  and 
contentment  than  1  had  experienced  in  twenty  years.  I 
never  received  a  letter  which  gave  me  such  pleasure.  I  left 
Dieppe  next  day,  and  passing  by  Rouen  with  Brother  Gil- 
bert I  met  Father  de  None.  Arriving  at  Havre  we  went 
to  pay  our  respects  to  M.  du  Pont,  the  cardinal's  nephew, 
who  gave  us  a  passport  for  America.  From  Havre  we  went 
to  Honlieur,  and  on  the  18th  of  April  set  sail.  ■  We  had 
fair  weather  at  the  beginning,  and  in  ten  days  made  six 
hundred  leagues,  but  we  paid  up  for  it  during  the  thirty 
days  that  followed.  We  had  nothing  but  storms  and  head 
winds,  with  only  a  few  hours  of  fair  weather  from  time 
to  time. 

"  Even  in  the  last  days  of  May  and  the  beginning  of  June 
the  winds  and  the  fog  were  bitter  cold.  Father  de  Noue 
had  his  hands  and  feet  frozen,  and  I  had  headaches  and  a 
palpitation  of  the  heart  that  continued  an  entire  month. 
As  we  had  only  salt  meat  we  were  tortured  with  thirst,  and 
there  was  no  fresh  water  on  board.  Our  cabins  were  so 
small  that  we  could  not  stand  nor  kneel  nor  sit  in  them,  and, 
what  is  worse,  when  it  rained,  the  water  poured  down  on 
my  face.  Everyone  else  suffered  in  the  same  way ;  the 
sailors  worst  of  all.  But  all  that  is  past  and  gone,  and  I  would 
not  care  to  be  back  in  France.  Our  little  troubles  did  not,  I 
think,  cause  us  a  moment's  sadness.  God  never  lets  himself 
be  conquered.  If  you  give  him  a  farthing  he  repays  you 
with  a  gold  mine.  On  the  whole,  however,  I  came  off 
better  than  Father  de  Noue,  who,  for  a  long  time,  could  not 
eat  a  morsel.  As  for  the  Brother,  he  is  like  an  amphibious 
animal,  just  as  well  on  sea  as  on  land."  In  this  rough 
fashion  did  Father  de  Noue  come  a  second  time  to  America. 

While  repairing  the  old  residence  of  Notre  Dame  des 
Anges,  which  the  English  had  almost  ruined  during  their 
occupation,  an  opportunity  was  offered  to  the  Fathers  to 
go  down  with  a  party  of  savages  who  were  encamped  at 
Cape  Tourmente.     De  Noue  was  chosen  for  the  work.     It 

189 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

was  bitterly  cold,  for  it  was  in  the  month  of  January,  and 
the  Indians  had  for  shelter  nothing  but  a  deep  excavation 
in  the  snow.  Around  them  were  the  white  walls ;  above 
was  the  sky.  Crouched  about  a  cauldron  sat  the  hunters 
who,  from  time  to  time,  took  out  huge  chunks  of  half- 
cooked  meat  and  devoured  them.  There  was  no  attempt 
at  cleaning  the  filthy  and  bleeding  lumps  of  elk  or  beaver 
or  bear  that  were  flung  into  the  horrible  pot,  and  the  savages 
tore  them  in  pieces  with  their  teeth  or  hands,  sometimes 
even  bringing  their  feet  into  requisition  when  the  fibres 
were  too  tough.  Poor  de  Noue  tried  to  imitate  his  hosts 
who  were  otherwise  very  attentive  to  him.  but  his  gorge 
rose  and  he  set  aside  the  meat,  satisfying  himself  with  a 
few  crusts  of  bread  he  had  brought  with  him.  But  the 
savages  snatched  them  from  him  and  eat  them,  saying  he 
could  get  as  much  bread  as  he  wanted  when  he  returned 
home.  So  there  he  sat  starving  and  sick  amid  the  piles 
of  reeking  flesh,  which  had  to  be  all  eaten,  for  the  Indians 
made  no  store  for  the  future.  Nor  could  he  speak  to  his 
friends,  for  the  Montagnais  showed  themselves  very  reluc- 
tant to  teach  the  missionaries  the  language  of  the  country, 
and  so  at  last  he  made  up  his  mind  to  return,  and  staggered 
out  of  the  pit.  He  had  gone  only  a  short  distance  when 
he  found  himself  both  blind  and  deaf,  and  had  to  be  carried 
back  again  into  the  offensive  hole  over  which  the  heavy 
smoke  hung,  but  fortunately  he  could  no  longer  see  the 
blood  and  filth  around  him.  At  last  he  revived  a  little,  and 
the  savages,  no  doubt  disgusted  at  his  weakness,  put  him 
on  a  sled  and  dragged  to  Notre  Dame  des  Anges,  where 
he  was  gradually  nursed  back  to  health.  The  Indian 
methods  were  evidently  too  much  for  him. 

From  that  out  his  labors  were  confined  to  the  immediate 
surroundings  of  the  house,  and  we  find  him  toiling  night 
and  day  for  the  next  six  or  seven  years.  He  always  asked 
for  the  meanest  and  the  hardest  occupations.  He  made 
himself  a  slave  for  the  comfort  of  others,  and  many  a  day 

190 


ANNE  DE  NOUE. 

he  spent  in  the  woods  digging  roots  to  feed  the  famishing 
members  of  the  household.  It  is  somewhat  pleasant  to  be 
told  that  this  saintly  missionary  became  by  dint  of  enforced 
I)ractice  an  expert  fisherman,  and  that  the  table  never  lacked 
a  supply  of  the  best  the  rivers  could  afford  when  he  was 
in  the  neighborhood.  Perhaps,  like  St.  Francis,  he  called 
the  fish  around  him. 

In  1G43  he  was  assigned  to  the  chaplaincy  of  Fort 
Richelieu,  which  had  been  built  where  the  Sorel  or  Iroquois 
or  Richelieu  River — it  had  all  these  names — empties  into 
the  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  the  usual  passageway  for  the 
Iroquois  in  their  raids  on  Canada,  and  necessarily  dangers 
and  privations  were  not  wanting,  so  that  it  was  a  great  com- 
fort for  him  VN'hen  his  old  friend  Le  Jeune  was  sent  there  for 
a  time  to  help  him.  In  1G46  the  end  came.  It  was  the  30th 
of  January.  He  had  set  out  from  Three  Rivers  along  with 
two  soldiers  and  Huron.  They  were  going  to  Fort  Riche- 
lieu, thirty-six  miles  away.  Everything,  of  course,  was  in 
the  grip  of  winter,  and  the  snow  was  three  or  four  feet 
deep.  They  tramped  along  on  their  raquettes,  but  made 
only  eighteen  miles  before  night  overtook  them.  They 
camped  in  the  snow  near  the  bank  w'here  the  trees  shielded 
them  somew^iat  from  the  piercing  wind,  but  there  was 
nothing  above  them  but  the  cold  sky.  The  two  soldiers 
were  worn  out  with  fatigue,  for  they  were  not  used  to  snow- 
shoes,  and  had  besides  carried  heavy  packs  on  their  backs. 
To  afiford  them  relief,  Father  de  Noue  got  out  of  his  blankets 
at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  started  out  alone  for  the 
fort.  He  took  nothing  with  him ;  not  even  his  gun  to  start 
a  fire,  nor  his  robe,  and  only  a  few  bits  of  bread  and  some 
dried  prunes  which  they  found  afterwards  on  his  dead  body. 
Before  him  lay  the  wide  stretch  of  Lake  St.  Peter.  The 
moon  was  shining  brightly  and  he  tramped  along  alone. 
When  we  think  of  it,  the  scene  is  almost  startling:  an  old 
white  haired  man,  sixty-seven  years  of  age,  hurrying  along 
in  the  dead  of  night  on  the  ice  fields  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 

191 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

to  make  it  easier  for  two  tired  soldiers  to  reach  their  des- 
tination, and  going  into  his  own  grave  in  the  snow.  Soon 
the  face  of  the  moon  was  darkened  by  clouds,  and  a  fierce 
storm  of  snow  made  the  gloom  of  the  night  still  more  dense. 
He  had  no  compass  to  guide  him,  but  he  could  not  have 
seen  it  if  he  had  one.  Nor  could  he  any  longer  make  out 
the  borders  of  the  lake,  nor  find  any  of  the  islands  with 
which  it  is  dotted.  Still  he  tramped  onward,  but  made  little 
progress.     He  was  lost. 

In  the  morning  the  soldiers  arose,  and  were  astounded 
to  find  that  the  Father  was  not  with  them.  They  could  not 
see  any  tracks,  for  the  new  snow  had  covered  everything. 
One  of  the  party  who  had  been  at  Richelieu  before,  fixed  its 
direction  by  the  quadrant,  and  he  and  his  companion  with 
the  Indian  started  off  in  pursuit.  All  day  long  they 
searched  but  in  vain,  and  at  night,  worn  out  with  fatigue, 
they  encamped  on  St.  Ignatius  Island,  not  far  from  where 
Noue's  body  was,  but  they  did  not  know  it.  The  Huron, 
more  accustomed  to  such  things  than  the  white  men,  hurried 
on  to  Richelieu  to  find  if  the  Father  had  arrived.  He  was 
frightened  to  hear  that  he  had  not.  It  was  only  eighteen 
miles  and  the  wanderer  could  easily  have  covered  that  dis- 
tance. Evidently  he  had  gone  astray.  It  was  then  night, 
and  they  had  to  wait  till  morning.  At  break  of  day 
the  soldiers  of  the  garrison  scurried  away  to  the  north,  but 
he  had  gone  to  the  south.  They  shouted  and  discharged 
their  muskets,  but  no  answer  came.  He  was  far  away. 
They  found  the  two  soldiers  ;  for  the  Indians  had  given  theiii 
the  needed  information,  but  there  Avas  no  sign  of  the  priest. 
All  day  long  they  hunted  in  every  direction  but  to  no  purpose. 

It  was  now  the  2d  of  February,  and  a  soldier  who  had 
been  long  in  the  country  took  two  Indians  with  him  and 
started  back  to  the  place  where  the  party  had  encamped  on 
the  first  night.  An  Indian  can  find  tracks  that  have  been 
covered,  and  hence  they  were  soon  on  the  trail.  They  fol- 
lowed it  as  it  wound  in  all  directions,  and  at  last  came  to 

192 


ANNE  DE  NOUE. 

the  place  where  he  had  passed  the  night.  It  was  a  hole  in 
the  snow.  There  were  some  pine  branches  on  which  he 
had  rested,  if  he  rested  at  all,  for  he  had  nothing  to  cover 
himself  but  an  old  soutane  and  a  light  cloak.  As  the 
French  did  not  usually  go  in  that  direction  he  had  evidently 
not  recognized  the  locality.  From  that  spot  he  had  crossed 
the  river  in  front  of  the  Richelieu,  which  he  did  not  see, 
either  because  it  was  snowing  hard  or  he  had  lost  the  sight  of 
his  eyes.  The  soldier  and  the  Indians,  nevertheless,  kept 
on  and  succeeded  in  finding  at  Cape  Massacre,  a  place  where 
Noue  had  rested.  It  was  in  front  of  Isle  Platte  on  the  main- 
land between  two  little  creeks.  There  they  saw  him.  He 
was  on  his  knees,  frozen  stiff,  in  a  hole  that  he  had  made 
in  the  snow.  His  hat  and  his  snowshoes  were  near  him, 
and  he  was  bending  over  on  the  snow  bank.  He  had  died 
while  he  knelt  in  prayer  and  had  fallen  over  on  the  snow, 
for  his  arms  were  folded  across  his  breast  and  his  eyes 
were  wide  open  and  gazing  upwards  to  heaven.  He  was 
looking  for  home. 

The  brave  soldier,  overcome  by  the  sight,  fell  on  his  knees 
and  prayed.  He  then  cut  a  cross  on  the  nearest  tree,  and 
wrapping  up  the  body,  which  was  like  ice,  put  it  on  the  sled 
and  sorrowfully  and  reverently  dragged  it  to  the  fort  and 
then  down  to  Three  Rivers.  Thev  buried  him  there,  and  as 
the  soldiers  and  Indians  stood  around  his  rigid  corpse  many 
a  hard  heart  melted,  and  men  who  for  years  had  been  steeped 
in  vice  hastened  to  make  their  peace  with  God.  The  icy 
lips  of  the  priest  .spoke  as  they  had  never  done  before.  He 
probably  died  on  the  Feast  of  the  Purification,  and  that 
must  have  made  him  happy,  for  he  never  let  a  Saturday  pass 
without  fasting  in  honor  of  the  Mother  of  the  Lord,  nor  a 
day  without  reciting  the  Office  of  her  Immaculate  Con- 
ception. 


193 


ANTHONY  DANIEL 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Indian   College. 

Cape  Breton,  as  every  one  knows,  is  not,  in  spite  of  its 
name,  a  cape,  but  an  island.  It  would  be  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  Nova  Scotia  did  not  the  Gut  of  Canso,  which 
is  only  a  mile  wide,  give  it  a  separate  existence.  Indeed, 
it  is  almost  two  islands,  for  the  Little  Bras  d'Or,  which  runs 
into  it  from  the  east  and  then  widens  out  near  the  western 
extremity  into  Bras  d'Or  Lake,  almost  cuts  it  in  two  longi- 
tudinally. 

A  glance  at  the  names  of  the  different  localities  as  they 
appear  on  the  map,  reveals  to  us  the  various  elements  of 
the  population.  There  can  be  no  mistake  about  who  have 
named  Loch  Lomond,  and  Skir  Dhu ;  nor  about  lona  and 
Irish  Town,  the  latter  of  which  for  safety  sake  is  on  the 
other  side  of  Bras  d'Or  over  against  Orangedale.  La 
Framboise,  L'Archeveque,  etc.,  recall  Acadian  influences; 
and  a  rare  name  like  Whycocomah,  reminds  us  of  the 
vanishing  Micmacs,  some  of  whose  shadows  still  flit  over 
the  Island.  The  population  in  1901  was  49,000,  of  whom 
about  35,000  were  Catholics. 

Perhaps  Sebastian  Cabot  saw  Cape  Breton  in  his  wander- 
ings, and  its  name  would  suggest  that  Breton  fishermen 
toiled  ofif  its  shores,  but  it  attained  political  prominence 
only  w^hen  Champlain  was  surrendering  Quebec,  in  1629.  At 
that  time  a  Scotchman  named  Stewart,  who  claimed  to  have 
royal  blood  in  his  veins  and  who  enjoyed  the  title  of  Fourth 
Lord  of  Ochiltree,  had  a  fancy  that  it  would  be  a  fine  place 
for  a  colony,  so  he  built  a  fort  at  Great  Cibou,  which  is  now 
called  St.  Anne's  Harbor. 

197 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Just  then  the  fleets  were  hurrying  over  the  sea  to  the 
relief  of  Quebec.  One  of  them  was  in  command  of  Captain 
Daniel.  Unfortunately,  his  vessels  lost  sight  of  each  other 
in  the  fogs  of  Newfoundland,  and  he  found  himself  with 
only  a  single  ship.  Under  such  circumstances  it  would 
have  been  more  than  hazardous  to  attempt  to  break  through 
Kirke's  blockade  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  so  he  concluded  to 
do  what  was  the  next  best  thing.  Having  heard  that 
Stewart  had  captured  some  French  vessels,  and  estab- 
lished a  colony  in  Cape  Breton,  he  turned  his  ship  in  that 
direction,  made  short  work  of  the  Scotch  lord's  defences, 
demolished  the  fort  and  built  another  in  its  stead  at  what 
is  now  St.  Anne's  Bay,  just  north  of  the  Bras  d'Or. 
Leaving  a  garrison  there  of  forty  men,  he  set  sail  for 
France  with  his  prisoners,  and  forever  after  boasted  that 
when  the  French  flag  was  lowered  at  Quebec  it  remained 
floating  in  the  breeze  at  St.  Anne's  in  Cape  Breton. 

Among  those  wdio  came  ashore  from  Daniel's  ship  and 
remained  when  the  Captain  sailed  away,  was  the  Jesuit 
Father  Vimont.  He  w-as  joined  by  one  of  his  brethren 
shortly  after,  in  a  most  unexpected  fashion.  A  vessel  fitted 
out  by  Father  Noyrot,  for  the  purpose  of  provisioning 
Quebec,  went  to  pieces  on  the  rocks  near  Canso.  Noyrot 
and  Brother  Malot  along  with  twelve  men  were  drowned, 
while  Fathers  Charles  Lalemant  and  Vieuxpont,  and  eight 
of  the  crew,  succeeded  in  reaching  the  shore.  Vieuxpont 
escaped  without  injury,  but  Lalemant  was  nearly  killed  by 
being  battered  against  the  rocks  and  was  hauled  out  of  the 
water  more  dead  than  alive.  A  Basque  fisherman  took  them 
on  board  and  they  remained  with  him  from  that  time — it 
was  then  the  end  of  August — until  October  6th.  They  were 
about  to  set  sail  for  France,  when  an  Indian  told  them  of 
Daniel's  establishment  twenty-five  leagues  away.  Lalemant 
remained  with  the  skipper  and  started  across  the  ocean, 
but  Vieuxpont  got  into  the  canoe  with  the  Indian  and  a  few 
days  after  presented  himself  to  Vimont,  who,  of  course, 

198 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

was  as  much  astonished  as  dehghted  by  the  arrival  of  such 
a  welcome  companion.  They  heard  only  a  year  afterwards 
that  poor  Father  Lalemant  had  suffered  another  shipwreck 
before  he  reached  home. 

The  two  priests  remained  in  Cape  Breton  a  little  over 
a  year,  and  returned  to  France  in  1630.  They  could  do 
nothing  with  the  few  scattered  natives  of  whose  language 
they  were  necessarily  in  total  ignorance,  but  they  had  plenty 
to  do  with  the  soldiers  of  the  fort,  most  of  whom  were 
down  with  scurvy.  "  I  found  myself  often,"  says  Vimont, 
"  with  a  corpse  in  liis  shroud  on  one  side,  and  a  sick  man 
whom  I  was  administering  on  the  other," 

When  peace  was  concluded.  Captain  Daniel  sailed  back 
again  to  his  "  abitation."  Perhaps  he  was  emulating  Cham.- 
plain  in  the  choice  of  that  name.  With  him  was  his  brother 
Anthony,  who  was  destined  to  become  one  of  Canada's 
illustrious  martyrs,  and  who  was  then  only  a  little  over 
thirty-three  years  of  age,  for  he  was  born  at  Dieppe,  May  27, 
1601.  After  studying  law  for  about  a  year,  he  had  entered 
the  Jesuit  novitiate  at  Rouen,  October  1,  1621.  It  was  his 
distinguished  brother's  ship  that  brought  him  over  to  begin 
his  career  as  an  Indian  missionary.  His  companion  was 
Father  Davost,  and  they  were  to  look  after  the  aboriginees 
of  Captain  Daniel's  Island.  What  the  place  was  like,  we 
find  from  a  letter  written  by  Father  Perrault  a  year  later. 

"  The  Island,"  he  says,  "  is  about  sixty  or  eighty  leagues 
in  circumference.  A  number  of  very  high  mountains  are 
seen  here  and  there,  at  the  foot  of  which  we  found  the 
debris  of  great  land  slides.  There  are  also  in  some  places 
frightful  precipices."  To  the  modern  traveller  this  descrip- 
tion of  many  high  mountains  and  frightful  precipices  seems 
an  exaggeration,  although  one  of  the  promontories  goes 
up  into  the  air  about  1,200  feet,  but  we  must  remember  that 
these  missionaries  came  from  Normandy,  where  every  hill 
is  a  "  montagne." 

"  The  land,"  he  continues,  "  is  covered  with  all  sorts  of 

199 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

trees;  oak,  beech,  birch,  pine,  spruce,  etc.  T!ie  Cibou  is  a 
great  bay  nearly  two  leagues  wide  at  its  mouth,  narrowing 
gradually  as  it  works  into  the  land.  At  the  entrance  of 
the  harbor,  on  the  left  as  you  enter,  and  perched  on  the  top 
of  a  bluff  is  Fort  St.  Anne,  looking  towards  the  northwest. 
Opposite  to  it  is  a  small  bay.  It  is  a  position  which  com- 
petent judges  declare  is  so  well  chosen  that  with  ten  or 
twelve  cannon  you  could  sink  eveiy  ship  that  would  show 
itself.  Old  sailors  assure  us  they  have  never  seen  so 
spacious  a  port  with  such  facility  for  landing.  Three 
thousand  craft  might  ride  safely  at  anchor.  The  harbor 
forms  almost  a  circle,  and  is  fair  to  look  upon.  The  tides 
are  moderate  and  regular,  and  there  is  always  a  depth  of 
thirty  or  thirty-six  feet  of  water.  Although  we  are  in 
latitude  46^°  the  cold  is  intense,  and  the  winter  lasts  five 
or  six  months  of  the  year.  Nevertheless  the  savages  are 
better  off  then  than  in  many  another  place.  If  they  trap 
fewer  beavers  in  the  water,  they  find  more  moose  on  the 
shore  at  that  time.  In  summer  they  live  at  their  ease,  on 
woodchuck.  parrot-fish,  cormorants,  and  various  other  sea 
fowl,  and  there  are  otters,  mackerel,  cod,  smelt  and  all 
kinds  of  fish  in  season. 

"  The  people  are  not  ugly.  On  the  contrary  they  are 
rather  good-looking,  well  built  and  strong.  Their  natural 
hue  is  white,  as  you  can  see  from  the  children,  but  the  heat 
of  the  sun  and  the  use  of  fish-oil  and  elk-grease,  with  which 
they  smear  themselves,  changes  their  color  as  they  grow 
up.  They  have  long  black  hair  but  are  beardless,  so  that 
we  are  puzzled  at  times  to  distinguish  the  men  from  the 
women ;  though  the  latter  wear  more  clothes.  *  The  re- 
verse,' says  the  restrospective  missionary,  '  of  what  is  prac- 
ticed in  Christendom  to  the  shame  of  Christianity.' 

"  Judging  from  the  way  they  treat  us  they  are  not  at  all 
bad.  Indeed,  there  is  a  certain  modesty  and  gravity  in  their 
demeanor  which  is  attractive.  They  appear  to  be  unwilling 
to  have  us  know  their  language,  but  will  listen  to  us  all 

200 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

day,  and  repeat  w  hat  we  say  or  do.  Thus,  seeing  we  pay 
respect  to  the  cross,  they  paint  it  all  over  their  bodies.  As 
far  as  we  can  make  out,  they  know  nothing  about  God, 
or  the  condition  of  the  soul  after  death.  But  perhaps  a 
better  acquaintance  with  their  language  may  change  our 
ideas.  Unlike  other  Indians  they  are  honest,  and  although 
they  are  polygamists  and  easily  dismiss  their  wives,  there 
is  nothing  indecent  in  their  external  behavior." 

Such  were  the  aboriginees  of  Cape  Breton,  but  unfortun- 
ately the  place  was  abandoned  in  1G41.  Daniel  and  Davost 
remained  there  only  a  year,  and  we  find  in  the  "  Relation  " 
that  "  on  June  24,  1632,  Daniel  arrived  at  Quebec,  and 
gave  information  of  the  arrival  of  Captain  Morieult,  on 
whose  ship  he  had  left  Father  Davost  at  Tadoussac. 
]\Iorieult  had  been  told  to  call  for  them  at  Cape  Breton, 
for  both  were  destined  for  more  perilous  work. 

De  Brebeuf  was  about  to  start  for  Huronia,  and  almost 
immediately  after  their  arrival,  namely  on  July  7,  1634, 
Daniel  and  Davost  got  into  the  Indian  canoes  along  with 
him  and  began  a  journey  to  the  northwest  which  was  one 
uninterrupted  series  of  hardships  and  dangers.  The  trav- 
ellers lost  each  other  on  the  way  up,  and  Daniel  was  ejected 
from  his  canoe  and  would  have  been  left  to  perish  in  the 
wilderness  had  not  a  friendly  Indian  come  to  his  rescue 
and  put  him  in  another  boat.  The  change  was  fortunate, 
for  the  first  canoe  was  a  miserable  affair  which  twice  in  one 
day  came  near  being  dashed  to  pieces,  and  besides,  its  three 
lazy  occupants  had  determined  to  drop  their  passenger 
twelve  leagues  away  from  his  destination. 

Arriving  at  Ihonitiria  after  de  Brebeuf,  who  had  taken 
a  month  for  the  journey,  Daniel  immediately  plunged 
into  work.  The  records  are  scanty  just  then,  but  we 
find  him  in  the  following  year  down  among  the  Algon- 
quins,  kneeling,  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  at  the  side  of  a 
poor  Iroquois  prisoner  who  was  staked  to  the  ground,  while 
his  captors  were  shaking  fire-brands  over  him  so  as  to  make 

201 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  sparks  fall  on  his  naked  and  mangled  body.  The 
wretched  sufferer  never  uttered  a  moan.  Next  day  he  was 
put  to  death,  but  before  he  expired,  Daniel  had  made  him 
a  Christian.  That,  however,  was  only  one  of  the  ordinary 
incidents  of  his  life  at  that  time.  He  had  plenty  to  do 
between  studying  the  terrible  language  of  the  natives, 
ingratiating  himself  with  the  people,  caring  for  them  in 
their  sickness,  and  striving  to  put  a  check  on  some  of  their* 
frightful  vices.  There  was,  besides,  the  abiding  fear  of 
the  Iroquois.  On  the  14th  of  May,  a  number  of  mangled 
Hurons  had  rushed  into  Ihonitiria.  They  had  been  out 
on  the  war-path,  and  after  spending  two  nights  singing, 
and  dancing,  and  carousing,  were  set  upon  by  the  Iro- 
quois, almost  within  gunshot  of  their  own  village.  A 
dozen  were  tomahawked,  some  were  taken  prisoners,  and 
the  rest  fled  to  their  homes  to  tell  the  tale. 

One  good  result  of  the  misfortune  was  that  they  were 
now  more  willing  to  listen  to  the  missionaries,  and  the 
tragedy  was,  moreover,  the  occasion  of  the  conversion  to  a 
better  life  of  an  Indian  known  as  Louis  de  Saincte  Foy,  who 
had  been  sent  to  Europe  to  be  educated,  but  who,  on  his 
return,  was  for  a  long  time  a  subject  of  great  concern  for 
the  missionaries.  This  massacre  set  him  in  the  right  path 
again,  and  he  never  deflected  from  it  afterwards.  He  was 
in  the  fight,  and  he  declared  that  God  had  so  wonderfully 
protected  him  on  that  occasion  that  he  determined  to  change 
his  life.  Excepting  his  father,  he  brought  his  whole  family  to 
the  faith.  He  became  a  zealous  teacher,  and  even  de  Bre- 
beuf  used  to  admire  the  correctness  and  lucidity  of  his  ex- 
planations of  Christian  doctrine.  His  father  was  a  curious 
old  character,  however,  and  a  source  of  constant  amuse- 
ment to  the  missionaries.  His  conceit  in  his  abilities  was 
phenomenal.  Thus  when  he  first  heard  the  catechism  ex- 
plained, he  said  with  disdain :  "  Why  that  is  nothing ;  any- 
one can  learn  that.  When  I  was  sent  on  embassies  to  the 
tribes  I  had  thirty  things  to  remember  and  never  forgot 

909, 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

one.  The  trouble  is  that  all  this  is  new  to  us.  The  French- 
men who  came  here  before  were  a  bad  lot,  and  never  spoke 
to  us  of  religion.  Learn  those  prayers!  Certainly.  I  in- 
tend not  only  to  learn  them  but  also  the  language  of  the 
missionaries,  and  be  the  chief  in  one  of  their  houses.  If 
ever  I  have  power  I  shall  put  to  death  anyone  who  steals." 
"  Then,"  retorted  his  son,  "  you  will  leave  no  one  in  the 
country,  for  every  Huron  is  a  thief."  "  Yet,"  says  de  Bre- 
beuf,  rather  dryly,  "  this  mighty  intellect  had  to  w^ork  hard 
to  learn  the  sign  of  the  cross." 

Later  on,  the  old  man  joined  the  expedition  to  Quebec 
with  Daniel,  and  we  are  made  party  to  a  conversation  be- 
tween him  and  his  dutiful  son  on  the  eve  of  the  departure : 
"  Father,"  said  Louis,  "  when  you  embrace  Christianity  do 
not  do  so  for  anything  you  hope  to  get  out  of  it.  When 
you  are  among  the  French,  refrain  from  going  around  the 
cabins  to  have  a  good  time.  Don't  be  regarded  as  a  beggar. 
Try  to  see  M.  de  Champlain,  and  keep  near  the  Fathers." 

As  the  old  savage  was  an  inveterate  gambler,  and  very 
avaricious,  the  son  had  reasons  to  suspect  the  motive  of  his 
journey.  It  is  not  recorded  that  he  ever  became  Superior 
of  any  of  the  Jesuit  houses  as  he  declared  was  his  ambition. 
On  the  contrary  the  deceiver  did  not  go  even  as  far  as 
Three  Rivers,  but  stopped  over  with  the  Bissiriens,  and 
then  returned  home  where  he  began  a  series  of  w-ild  dis- 
orders, keeping  carefully  out  of  sight  of  the  missionaries. 
Louis  was  killed  some  time  after,  and  then  the  unfortunate 
man  became  gloomy  and  committed  suicide  by  poisoning 
himself. 

There  was  one  special  work  in  Huronia  assigned  to 
Daniel.  He  had  to  teach  the  children  to  sing.  He  began 
by  putting  the  Our  Father,  the  Hail  Mary  and  tlie  Com- 
mandments to  music,  with  the  result  that  the  older  Indians 
were  compelled  to  hear  from  their  own  offspring  what  they 
refused  to  listen  to  when  the  missionaries  spoke  to  them. 
The  choir  was  a  great  success  not  only  in  giving  solemnity 

203 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

to  the  service,  but  in  filling  the  chapel  with  an  interested 
audience,  and  by  that  means,  getting  supernatural  thoughts 
into  the  dark  souls  of  the  savages. 

Probably  it  was  this  influence  with  the  children  that  sug- 
gested Daniel  as  the  one  best  fitted  for  carrying  out  the 
scheme  that  had  long  been  discussed  of  educating  a  number 
•of  Huron  boys  at  Quebec.  The  people  were  approached  on 
the  subject,  and  it  was  suggested  as  an  excellent  way  of 
cementing  the  friendship  with  the  French,  and  also  of 
furnishing  an  opportunity  of  making  traders  of  the  boys. 
The  religious  motive  back  of  it  was  not  urged.  It  would 
scarcely  appeal  to  the  savage  heart.  A  dozen  families  con- 
sented and  Daniel's  hopes  went  soaring,  but  when  the  boys 
were  already  seated  in  the  canoes,  maternal  lamentations 
rent  the  air,  and  all  but  three  were  hurried  back  into  the 
wigwams  again.  Daniel  was  as  depressed  as  he  had  before 
been  elated,  but  it  was  the  best  that  could  be  done  and  he 
set  out  with  his  young  hopefuls.  It  was  a  perilous  under- 
taking, for  if  anything  happened  to  the  boys  either  on  the 
way  down  or  at  Quebec,  the  missionaries  might  expect  a 
general  massacre.  But  they  were  willing  to  take  much 
greater  risks. 

On  August  15,  1636,  Father  Le  Jeune  and  du  Plessis 
Bouchard,  the  General  of  the  Fleet,  as  he  was  called,  were 
at  Three  Rivers,  when  a  canoe  was  beached  on  the  river 
bank  and  an  Indian  handed  a  letter  to  the  priest.  It  was 
from  Father  Daniel  and  read  : 

"  I  am  held  here  at  the  Isle  des  AUumettes.  The  Indians 
will  not  let  us  pass,  because  Chief  One  Eye  is  dead  and  his 
relatives  have  not  been  covered.  You  know  what  that 
means.  Their  grief  has  not  been  assuaged  by  rich  presents. 
We  cannot  satisfy  them,  and  though  they  are  willing  to  let 
the  French  go  down  the  river,  they  are  retaining  the  Hurons, 
but  I  told  them  I  would  not  go  without  my  Indians. 

"  I  saw  Fathers  Garnier  and  Chastelain  about  three  days' 
journey  up  from  here.     They  seemed  to  be  having  a  good 

204 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

time,  for  they  had  their  shoes  on  and  were  not  paddHng. 
I  was  so  dehghted  that  I  gave  the  savages  some  of  the  weed 
which  we  detest  and  which  they  adore — tobacco.  It  costs 
a  good  deal  here  this  year,  but  I  would  give  ten  times  as 
much  to  get  out  of  this  scrape  at  the  Isle.  It  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  that  I  should  do  so.  Unfortunately, 
however,  although  I  promised  you  twelve  pupils,  I  have 
only  three,  but  one  of  them  is  the  son  of  a  great  chief. 
I  have  also  some  older  people  wath  me  whom  you  will  see. 
Would  you  please  tell  M.  du  Plessis  that  though  I  have 
only  a  few  canoes  I  have  a  good  supply  of  provisions." 
The  letter  ends :  "  Signed  under  the  glare  of  a  piece  of 
burning  bark,  which  is  the  only  candle  we  have  in  this 
country." 

On  the  19th,  the  main  body  of  Daniel's  party  began  to 
arrive.  "  We  hurried  dow^n  to  the  River,"  says  the  "  Re- 
lation," "  and  all  the  Frenchmen  with  us,  among  them  M.  du 
Plessis  himself.  Father  Daniel's  canoe  was  leading  the 
flotilla.  Davost,  w-ho  was  W'ith  the  party,  was  in  the  rear. 
When  we  saw  Father  Daniel  our  hearts  began  to  melt. 
His  face  was  wreathed  in  smiles  but  he  was  all  spent.  He 
was  in  his  bare  feet ;  he  held  a  paddle  in  his  hand,  wore  a 
ragged  soutane,  and  his  breviary  was  slung  by  a  string 
around  his  neck.  His  shirt  was  rotting  on  his  back.  He 
saluted  all  the  chiefs  and  Frenchmen,  and  then  we  em- 
braced. After  adoring  the  Blessed  Sacrament  we  all  with- 
drew to  my  little  room,  where  he  told  us  how  the  Faith 
was  progressing  among  Hurons.  Then  he  gave  me  his 
papers  and  the  account  of  the  mission." 

After  the  Indians  had  held  their  usual  powows  and  sold 
their  peltries,  the  subject  of  the  boys  had  to  be  settled. 
Only  little  Satouta,  who  was  of  the  Bear  family,  held 
out.  The  two  others  wanted  to  go  home.  Daniel  was  in 
despair,  running  hither  and  thither,  reproaching  the  Indians 
with  not  keeping  their  word.  Le  Jeune  made  long  speeches 
and  du  Plessis  did  the  same,  until  at  last  one  of  the  chiefs 

205 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  xNORTH  AMERICA. 

declared  it  to  be  a  shame  that  only  the  Bears  should  show 
any  confidence  in  the  French.  Then  turning  to  his  nephew, 
Joseph  Tewatiron,  he  said :  "  You  will  remain  here;  have  no 
fear ;  the  French  will  treat  you  well."  Whereupon  Satou- 
ta's  father  began  a  little  speech :  "  My  son,  be  firm ;  do  not 
change  your  mind.  You  are  going  among  good  people.  Do 
not  take  anything  without  Father  Anthony's  leave.  Obey 
the  Blackrobes.  Keep  away  from  the  Montagnais.  Don't 
go  in  a  canoe  with  the  French,  for  you  might  misunderstand 
each  other  and  quarrel.  If  you  kill  a  deer,  keep  the  skin  and 
give  away  the  flesh.  Stay  here  till  next  year  and  we  shall 
see  what  is  to  be  done." 

"  As  time  was  pressing  and  M.  le  General  wanted  to  leave 
on  account  of  the  state  of  his  health,"  says  the  "  Relation," 
*'  we  took  our  two  scholars  in  the  shallop  and  set  sail.  It  was 
a  great  sight  to  see  the  parents  of  the  boys  apostrophizing 
them  as  they  left,  urging  them  to  keep  up  their  courage, 
not  to  steal  anything,  for  that  was  not  the  custom  among 
the  French,  etc.  Finally  the  anchor  was  hoisted,  and  as 
we  sailed  away,  every  cannon  in  the  fort  and  every  piece 
of  firearms  in  the  village  was  discharged  to  bid  us  God- 
speed." 

"There,"  says  Le  Jeune,  "you  have  your  seminary;" 
and  he  adds  with  a  touch  of  humor,  "  all  I  need  now  is  a 
place  to  put  it  in  and  means  to  support  it.  The  trouble  is 
that  these  little  savages  come  to  you  as  naked  as  your  hand ; 
for  when  you  dress  them  up  in  French  fashion  the  parents 
take  away  all  their  old  clothes  and  expect  plentiful  presents 
for  having  given  you  their  prodigies."  Though  he  made 
an  appeal  to  the  King,  it  is  not  recorded  that  His  Majesty 
exhausted  the  treasury  in  responding.  Perhaps  two  were 
not  worth  while,  but  another  scholar  had  been  captured 
somewhere.  Nicolet  got  two  more,  and  the  five  little  copper 
colored  students  were  carried  over  to  the  Fathers'  house, 
and  to  save  money  to  feed  the  five  young  savages,  five  civil- 
ized workmen  had  to  be  discharged. 

206 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

When  the  boys  were  leaving  Three  Rivers  they  were  told 
not  to  go  near  the  Montagnais.  The  advice  was  needed, 
and  an  event  occurred  just  then  at  Quebec  which  showed 
how  horribly  degraded  those  Indians  had  become.  The 
nervous  may  well  omit  the  account  of  it. 

An  Iroquois  brave  had  been  captured  and  was  handed 
over  to  the  squaws  to  be  tortured.  They  seized  him  as  he 
stepped  out  of  the  canoe  and  hurried  him  off  to  their  prin- 
cipal wigwam.  The  dance  was  the  first  act  in  the  hideous 
performance,  and  while  the  poor  wretch  was  going  through 
its  evolutions  a  shrivelled  old  hag  kept  beating  him  with  a 
knotted  rope  as  fiercely  as  her  strength  would  permit; 
another  pounded  him  on  the  back  and  stomach  with  a  stone, 
and  a  third  slashed  his  back  with  a  knife  till  he  was  all 
streaming  with  blood.  They  had  not  gone  far  in  giving 
vent  to  their  ^fury  when  an  old  savage  who  was  lying  on  the 
ground,  wasting  away  with  an  incurable  disease  and  already 
looking  almost  like  a  skeleton,  suddenly  sprang  to  his  feet 
and  clutching  the  Iroquois  by  the  neck,  bit  off  his  ear  and 
then  stuffed  it  into  the  victim's  mouth  and  tried  to  make 
him  eat  it.  Strange  to  say  the  prisoner  took  the  morsel 
with  apparent  pleasure,  chewed  it  for  a  time,  and  not  being 
able  to  swallow  it,  threw  it  into  the  fire. 

Tlijs  went  on  all  day,  and  when  evening  came  they  tied 
a  rope  around  the  prisoner  and  dragged  him  from  cabin 
to  cabin,  a  furious  squaw  lashing  him  meantime,  her  strokes 
keeping  time  with  a  dirge  that  she  was  singing.  Other 
horrors  were  perpetrated  which,  Le  Jeune  says,  "  this  paper 
would  blush  to  record."  Finally  the  Governor  was  in- 
formed of  what  was  going  on,  and  he  insisted  that  they 
should  exercise  their  savagery  elsewhere.  Whereupon  they 
crossed  the  river,  strangled  their  victim,  roasted  his  body 
and  gave  it  to  the  dogs  and  then  threw  the  bones  into  the 
stream. 

What  a  people  to  evangelize!  Evidently  not  only  the 
missions,  but  even  the  Christian  settlements  needed  infinite 

207 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

forbearance  to  put  up  with  these  abominations.  The  won- 
der is  why  armed  repression  was  not  resorted  to.  The 
difficulty  was,  that  national  customs  could  not  be  repressed 
without  throwing  the  whole  country  into  a  state  of  war. 
They  had  to  be  tolerated  for  the  moment. 

The  Fathers  needed  no  advice  to  keep  their  Huron  boys 
from  going  among  these  monsters.  There  was  enough  of 
inherent  savagery  in  the  pupils  themselves  to  absorb  all 
the  energy  of  their  patient  teachers.  Indeed  the  chronicles 
of  the  first  native  school  furnishes  a  series  of  adventures 
as  absorbing  as  ever  filled  the  pages  of  an  Indian  romance. 

The  scholars  were  dressed  like  French  boys  and  taught 
to  bow  and  lift  their  hats,  and  sit  properly  at  table,  etc.  It 
was  the  foolish  program  of  Frenchifying  or  francization  of 
the  savages  which  years  afterwards  Frontenac  taunted 
the  Fathers  with  refusing  to  continue.  Of  course  it 
was  much  more  important  to  make  them  Christians,  and 
they  had  prayers  and  instructions  which  naturally  had  to  be 
very  brief.  They  made  great  progress,  however,  and  on 
the  whole  were  very  happy.  Of  course  there  were  acci- 
dents and  fights,  for,  says  the  record,  "  they  were  as  hard 
to  manage  as  so  many  wild  asses."  Unfortunately  two  of 
them  died,  and  the  Fathers  were  in  consternation,  for  both 
were  heirs-apparent  to  much  wampum  and  great  offices  in 
their  tribes.  Satouta,  the  little  man  who  was  the  only 
one  who  was  willing  to  leave  home,  was  the  grandson  of 
a  great  chief  who  was  called  by  the  French  "  the  Admiral 
of  his  country,"  for  through  his  hands  everything  had  to 
pass.  The  other  one,  Teiko,  had  given  wonderful  promise 
as  an  orator.  Would  their  death  cause  an  uprising  among 
the  tribes?  Happily,  the  pestilence  was  raging  in  Huronia 
just  then,  and  it  was  thought  that  it  was  only  in  the  course 
of  nature  that  the  boys  should  succumb  like  their  relatives. 
There  was  still,  however,  some  apprehension  that  their 
deaths  might  be  thought  to  have  resulted  from  fights  they 
had  been  in.     But  it  turned  out  that  boylike  they  had  merely 

208 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

eaten  too  much,  and  had  not  been  able  to  wrestle  with  the 
sohd  nourishment  of  a  French  table.  Though  purgatives  and 
bleedings  were  vigorously  resorted  to,  as  medical  science 
required  in  those  days,  the  poor  little  fellows  died  and  went 
off  to  join  the  angels. 

The  school  was  now  reduced  to  three  pupils,  and  one  of 
the  three  became  homesick.  He  did  not  complain  of  ill- 
treatment,  but  was  longing  for  his  tepee  and  the  woods. 
Just  as  he  was  on  the  point  of  withdrawing,  however,  it 
was  announced  that  a  great  number  of  Hurons  were  ex- 
pected at  Three  Rivers,  and  the  boys  were  therefore  given 
a  conge  and  sent  up  to  the  colony  to  see  their  relatives. 
Father  Daniel  went  with  them,  and  in  the  account  of  what 
happened  we  have  a  very  interesting  story  of  a  break  in 
the  studies  at  Notre  Dame  des  Anges.  It  so  happened  that 
a  light-headed  and  talkative  chief  reached  Three  Rivers 
before  the  rest  of  his  party.  He  was  an  uncle  of  one  of 
the  Indian  pupils,  and  told  them  he  had  heard  on  the  way 
that  the  Hurons  had  killed  two  Frenchmen,  and  that  as  an 
atonement  would  have  to  be  made,  very  probably  the  two 
boys  were  the  most  likely  victims  to  be  chosen.  They,  of 
course,  were  terrified,  and  resolved  to  abscond.  The  pro- 
ject became  known  and  the  chief  was  arrested.  He  escaped, 
however,  from  the  fort  by  jumping  over  the  bastion,  but 
a  soldier  saw  him  and  a  hand  to  hand  fight  ensued,  with 
the  result  that  the  chief  was  led  back  to  confinement  and 
accused  of  trying  to  kidnap  the  two  Huron  boys.  For- 
tunately just  then  some  Hurons  arrived,  and  reported  that 
there  was  no  truth  in  the  rumor  about  the  murder  of  the 
Frenchmen ;  a  piece  of  intelligence  which  brought  peace  to 
every  one.  Nevertheless,  the  boy  who  first  caused  the 
trouble,  Joseph  Tewatiron,  persisted  in  his  desire  to  return 
home,  and  about  the  22d  of  July,  1637,  he  set  out  with 
Father  Ragueneau  for  Huronia. 

They  were  travelling  along  very  contentedly;  one  happy 
in  the  probability  of  soon  becoming  a  martyr,  the  other  in 

209 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  prospect  of  again  becoming  a  savage,  when  they  saw 
a  number  of  canoes  coming  towards  them.  Were  they 
Iroquois?  No;  Hurons;  and  in  the  lead  was  the  uncle  of 
the  boy.  "  Where  are  you  going?  "  he  asked  very  angrily. 
"  Home,"  was  the  answer.  "  You  are  not,"  said  the  chief; 
"  g:et  into  a  canoe  behind  and  follow  me.  You  have  been 
well  treated  at  Quebec  and  must  keep  your  word."  Very 
meekly  the  young  Indian  obeyed,  while  Father  Ragueneau 
continued  on  his  way  up  the  river  alone.  All  went  well 
till  Joseph  and  his  uncle  arrived  at  Lake  St.  Peter,  between 
Three  Rivers  and  Sorel.  An  Indian  warwhoop  was  heard. 
It  was  the  Iroquois.  A  brief  battle  followed  and  then  all 
was  over.  Uncle  and  nephew  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
foe,  and  for  some  time  Three  Rivers  knew  nothing  of  what 
had  happened. 

After  a  time  the  river  was  thought  to  be  clear,  and  on  the 
6th  of  .A^ugust  two  Huron  canoes  started  for  home.  That 
night  at  10  o'clock  the  long  drawn  out  wail  was  heard. 
Ouai !  Ouai !  It  was  the  Huron  cry  announcing  bad  news. 
The  Indians  in  the  fort  pricked  up  their  ears  and  silently 
waited.  At  last  in  the  early  morning  one  of  the  canoes 
reached  the  shore.  They  had  met  the  Iroquois  and  the 
other  boat  had  been  captured.  Then  followed  a  scene  of 
wild  disorder.  The  men  seized  their  weapons  and  the 
squaws  swarmed  into  the  fort.  Scouts  were  sent  out  and 
they  returned  at  daybreak  with  the  report  that  they  had 
heard  the  shouts  of  a  great  number  of  Iroquois  who  were 
apparently  rejoicing  over  their  booty.  There  must  have 
been  two  hundred  men  also,  in  ambush,  at  the  entrance 
of  Lake  St.  Peter. 

This  announcement  filled  every  one  with  terror.  The 
women  seized  their  children  and  started,  some  for  Quebec, 
and  others  up  the  St.  Maurice.  The  braves  asked  to  enter 
the  fort,  but  as  the  French  knew  bv  experience  that  such 
alarms  were  often  groundless  they  hesitated.  At  last  an 
Iroquois  canoe  was  seen  out  on  the  river,  sometimes  present- 

210 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

ing-  its  bow  to  the  fort,  sometimes  its  side,  as  if  in  deriance. 
Tliat  was  enough.  The  Hurons  and  Algonquins  were  let 
into  the  redoubt,  and  there  they  began  a  war  dance.  One 
seized  an  axe.  another  a  club,  another  a  shield,  and  leaped 
around  with  wild  capers  howling  and  yelling  like  demons. 
The  old  writer  of  the  "  Relations  "  remarks :  "  they  were 
usually  exhausted  when  it  was  time  to  fight." 

Montmagny  surveyed  the  scene  for  a  moment,  and  then 
quietly  got  his  own  men  in  line  ai.d  brought  the  Indians 
to  their  senses,  assigning  them  to  various  posts  in  case  any 
lighting  had  to  be  done.  As  the  challenging  canoe  ap- 
peared from  time  to  time  out  in  the  river,  he  ordered 
Nicolet  to  go  out  with  the  barque  to  reconnoitre,  and  he 
came  back  with  the  news  that  there  were  five  hundred 
Iroquois  in  the  neighborhood.  They  were  seen  by  him,  but 
as  they  were  not  near  enough  for  a  musket  shot,  the  cannon 
was  trained  on  them,  and  soon  they  were  scurrying  through 
the  reeds  on  the  shore  carrying  the  bodies  of  some  of  their 
comrades,  who  had  been  killed  or  wounded.  This  news 
again  started  the  howls  of  the  Indians  in  the  fort,  and  again 
they  had  to  be  repressed.  It  was  fortunate  that  Mont- 
magny  was  on  hand  to  control  them. 

Nothing,  however,  happened  just  then,  but  later  on,  a 
fugitive  came  in  stark  naked  and  reported  that  he  had  been 
pursued  by  the  Iroquois  close  up  to  the  fort.  Evidently  an 
attack  was  imminent,  and  Montmagny  despatched  a  canoe 
to  Quebec  for  reinforcements.  Einally,  at  nightfall,  some 
Indians  came  in  with  the  news  of  the  capture  of  the  Huron 
chief  and  his  nephew.  At  midnight  other  warriors  arrived 
and  announced  that  Lake  St.  Peter  was  alive  with  Iroquois. 
They  themselves  had  been  hotly  pursued  and  had  barely 
escaped  being  taken. 

Next  day,  the  9th,  while  every  one  was  waiting  in  terror, 
not  knowing  what  might  happen,  a  wild  cry  arose :  "  The 
Iroquois!  The  Iroquois!"  There  was  a  rush  to  the 
stockade  and  lo!  out  in  the  river  in  an  Iroquois  canoe  sat 

211 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  naked  Indian  with  a  long  pole  in  his  hand  What  did 
it  mean?  Was  it  another  defiance?  Was  it  a  prelude  to 
a  general  attack?  It  was  feared  that  the  five  hundred 
Irocjuois  were  already  in  the  woods  around  the  fort.  The 
gunner  took  aim  at  the  audacious  savage  in  the  canoe. 
"  Stop,"  said  the  Governor,  "  not  yet."  "  We  strained 
our  eyes,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  as  the  boat  came  nearer, 
until  it  finally  reached  the  shore.  We  saw  the  Indian  walk 
deliberately  to  the  fort  We  held  our  breath.  What  did  it 
all  mean  ?  At  last  sone  one  gasped  out :  '  Perhaps  it  is  our 
seminarian,  Joseph  Tewatiron.'  '  It  is  indeed,'  said  the 
Governor.  '  I  know  his  stride,'  and  so  it  was.  We  wel- 
comed him  with  delight  and  he  told  us  his  story." 

"  When  we  saw  my  uncle's  canoe  surrounded,"  he  said, 
"  we  plied  our  paddles  vigorously  to  escape,  hotly  pursued 
by  the  Iroquois.  We  made  for  the  shore,  and  scattered 
through  the  woods,  flinging  off  our  clothes  so  as  to  run 
faster.  The  enemy  pursued  us  but  night  came  on  and  they 
gave  up  the  chase.  I  remained  one  day  in  concealment,  and 
then  made  my  way  cautiously  to  the  river,  where  I  found  an 
Iroquois  canoe.  I  was  very  much  frightened,  for  I  thought 
I  had  fallen  into  their  hands.  I  listened  and  then  crept 
around  but  heard  and  saw  nothing;  so  I  tore  off  the  limb 
of  a  tree  and  determined  to  return  to  the  place  I  had  aban- 
doned." "Did  you  pray?"  asked  Daniel.  "I  never 
stopped  praying,"  he  answered,  "  that  God  would  protect 
me." 

Great  as  the  happiness  of  all  was,  some  suspected  that 
Joseph  might,  after  all,  be  nothing  but  an  Iroquois  spy, 
who  had  been  given  his  life  on  the  condition  that  he  might 
come  down  with  this  strange  story  to  betray  the  fort.  But 
tb.e  poor  boy  soon  convinced  them  that  their  suspicions 
were  unfounded,  for  he  wanted  to  go  back  immediately  to 
Quebec  to  take  some  needed  rest  and  to  heal  the  wounds 
he  had  received  in  his  flight. 

"  What  about  your  uncle,"  asked  Daniel.     "  I  taught  him 

212 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

all  1  knew  about  the  Faith  while  we  were  coming  down  the 
river,"  replied  the  boy.  "  1  do  not  know  what  happened 
afterwards."  But  that  night  he  found  out.  A  great  fire 
flared  up  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  Some  Hurons  and 
Montagnais  went  across  to  see  what  it  meant,  and  they 
brought  back  two  of  Joseph's  companions.  It  was  they 
who  had  started  the  fire  as  a  signal  of  distress.  The  fugi- 
tives were  welcomed  and  the  garrison  crowded  around  to 
hear  the  story.  "  I  escaped  from  the  enemy,"  said  one  of 
them.  "  I  was  hidden  in  the  reeds  and  I  heard  the  Iro- 
quois torturing  the  captives.  I  could  distinguish  the  voice 
of  the  chief  Tarantouan,  singing  as  vigorously  and  as  gaily 
as  if  he  were  among  his  friends.  I  was  lying  naked  in  a 
swamp  and  was  suffering  very  much,  but  the  thought  of  the 
poor  chief  gave  me  courage,  though  three  times  I  was  on 
the  point  of  giving  myself  up,  until  I  finally  got  the  chance 
of  stealing  away  and  here  I  am." 

He  corroborated  the  story  of  Joseph  in  all  its  details,  and 
after  a  few  days  Daniel  took  his  three  boys  and  set  out  for 
Quebec.  The  Governor  was  away  at  the  time  hunting  for 
Iroquois,  but  M.  de  Chateaufort,  imitating  what  had  been 
done  on  a  former  occasion,  ordered  the  cannon  of  the  fort 
to  salute  the  little  barque  as  it  sailed  down  the  St.  Lawrence. 
It  was  to  show  the  savages  what  esteem  was  had  for  those 
who  embraced  the  Faith.  They  reached  Quebec  in  safety 
and  studies  were  resumed  even  while  on  their  way  to  the 
city.  Such  was  the  first  vacation  of  the  first  Huron  col- 
lege. Later  on  new  scholars  arrived,  but  they  were  the 
reverse  of  what  was  wanted.  One  boy  especially  was  so 
corrupt  that  he  had  to  be  sent  away.  Two  others  decamped 
of  their  own  accord.  For  although  they  had  been  cared 
for  affectionately  for  several  months,  they  were  as  savage 
as  ever;  liars,  thieves,  gluttons  and  worse,  and  they  could 
not  stand  the  restraint.  By  dint  of  lying  and  stealing  they 
secured  a  canoe  and  plenty  of  provisions,  and  one  fine  morn- 
ing vanished  from  sight  over  the  waters  of  the  St.  Law- 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

rence.  The  number  was  thus  again  reduced  to  two,  but  it 
was  a  mercy  of  God,  for  there  were  many  sick  people  in 
the  neighborhood  just  then,  and  it  was  better  to  feed  them 
than  those  young  scapegraces  from  the  west.  But  the  two 
boys  who  remained  were  worth  keeping.  One  was  the  lad 
who  had  just  escaped  from  the  Iroquois,  the  other  was  called 
Armand,  who  later  on  became  an  apostle  of  his  people. 
His  full  name  was  Armand  Jean,  given  to  him  in  honor  of 
Richelieu,  and  he  well  deserved  the  distinction  accorded 
him.     We  shall  speak  of  him  in  another  chapter. 

Meantime  Montmagny  was  scouring  the  river  in  search  of 
the  Iroquois.  On  the  11th  two  shallops  fully  equipped  ar- 
rived at  Three  Rivers,  and  a  barque  and  more  boats  were 
on  their  way,  but  the  Governor  would  not  wait.  He  started 
out  immediately  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  taking  Father 
Le  Jeune  with  him.  It  was  night,  and  a  fair  wind  carried 
them  across  Lake  St.  Peter.  Not  a  sound  was  heard,  but 
at  dawn  it  was  thought  that  they  were  near  the  foe.  There 
was  a  dense  smoke  on  the  shore,  near  where  the  river  enters 
the  lake,  and  it  was  surmised  that  the  enemy  could  not  be 
far  away.  All  haste  was  made  to  reach  the  place  but  the 
birds  had  flown.  It  was  useless  to  follow,  for  their  canoes 
were  lighter  than  the  barques  and  shallops  of  the  French. 
Deeply  disappointed,  the  pursuers  went  ashore  to  examine 
more  closely.  They  found  on  the  river  bank  a  board  for- 
merly used  as  the  arms  of  a  cross  which  had  been  planted 
by  du  Plessis.  The  savages  had  torn  it  off  the  upright, 
and  had  painted  on  it  the  heads  of  the  thirty  Huron  captives, 
and  fastened  it  on  a  tree  where  it  could  not  escape  the 
notice  of  anyone  that  passed  that  way.  Two  heads  were 
larger  than  the  others.  One  of  them  represented  the  great 
chief  Tarantouan.  There  were  also  the  heads  of  two  chil- 
dren, and  of  two  boys  who  had  started  for  the  school 
at  Quebec  but  had  never  reached  it.  With  the  exception 
of  one  head  which  was  painted  black,  the  rest  were  in  red. 
Red  signified  captivity,  black  death.     A  little  later  the  body 

214 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

of  the  poor  wretch  who  was  slain  was  found  floating  in  the 
river.  But  that  was  all,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  done 
but  to  return.  Montmagny  and  his  men  were  deeply  chag- 
rined, chiefly  because  the  Iroquois  never  knew  they  were 
pursued.  It  was  a  bad  mark  against  the  courage  of  the 
French. 


215 


CHAPTER   II. 
Armand  the  Huron. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1637  alarming  reports  began 
to  come  to  Quebec  about  the  missions.  Rumor  had  it  that 
all  the  Fathers  had  been  murdered.  Montmagny  was  very 
much  distressed  and  would  gladly  have  sent  a  detachment 
of  soldiers  to  find  out  what  had  really  happened,  and  to 
punisli  the  offenders  in  case  the  report  was  true.  But  he 
had  only  a  slim  garrison  at  Quebec,  and  if  he  sent  a  small 
number  of  soldiers  they  might  easily  be  caught  in  the 
enemy's  country  and  annihilated.  In  this  emergency  the 
two  Indian  seminarists  came  to  the  rescue.  They  volun- 
teered to  go,  and  send  back  word  about  the  condition  of 
the  country.  The  offer  was  gladly  accepted.  It  meant,  of 
course,  danger  of  death  at  every  step,  but  that  did  not  deter 
them,  and  they  determined  to  go.  A  young  Frenchman, 
whose  name  is  unfortunately  not  given,  asked  to  accompany 
them  as  did  a  number  of  Algonquins 

"  We  also  sent  the  Father  who  had  instructed  them,"  says 
the  "  Relation,"  but  it  omits  to  give  his  name ;  and  one 
hesitates  for  a  moment,  because  Pijart  had  been  sent  down 
to  take  Daniel's  place,  who  had  fallen  desperately  sick 
because  of  the  failure  of  his  educational  scheme.  But  as 
we  find  Daniel  back  again  in  the  missions  about  this  time, 
and  as  the  clerical  guide  appointed  for  this  expedition  is 
spoken  of  as  keeping  his  Indians  singing  all  the  way,  all 
doubts  are  dispelled.  It  was  he  who  returned  with  Armand. 
Quebec  was  unable  to  cure  him,  and  so  he  was  sent  back  to 
undergo  the  incredible  hardships  and  privations  of  Indian 
life,  to  effect  his  restoration  to  health.  The  Algonquins 
started  out  gaily  with  the  young  Hurons,  and  went  like  the 
wind,  although  the  spring  freshets  and  melting  snows  had 

216 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

swollen  the  St.  Lawrence  and  made  the  current  fiercer  than 
ever.  Unfortunately  Daniel  did  not  speak  Algonquin,  and 
could  not  instruct  his  boatmen  in  the  Faith,  who  would 
have  listened  to  him  gladly.  But  he  did  the  next  best 
thing.  He  had  a  sort  of  litany  of  the  principal  dogmas, 
in  their  language,  and  he  taught  them  to  sing  it,  so  that 
every  morning  and  night  or  whenever  they  passed  an 
Indian  settlement  the  united  voices  of  the  savages  carried 
a  profession  of  faith  over  the  waters. 

They  had  not  gone  far  when  young  Armand  met  with  a 
misfortune.  Rounding  a  point  where  the  water  surged  and 
boiled  like  the  incoming  tide  of  the  sea,  his  canoe  upset 
and  for  a  moment  he  was  given  up  for  lost.  The  young 
Algonquin,  his  companion,  having  nothing  to  look  after  and 
thinking  only  of  saving  his  own  skin,  was  soon  out  of 
danger;  but  Armand  had  been  entrusted  with  a  box  in 
which  were  a  chalice,  a  chasuble  and  all  the  other  precious 
things  for  the  altar,  and  he  saw  it  sink  on  one  side  of  the 
canoe  while  he  went  down  on  the  other.  Daniel,  who  was 
on  shore,  fell  on  his  knees  to  implore  the  help  of  God,  while 
the  brave  boy  fought  fiercely  for  his  life,  until  at  last,  with 
his  body  all  bruised  and  his  hands  lacerated,  his  strength 
gave  out,  and  he  sunk  to  the  bottom  of  the  river.  But  a 
prayer  sprung  up  from  his  heart:  "  O,  Master  of  life," 
he  said,  "  Thou  canst  do  all  things.  Thou  canst  let  me 
die  or  make  me  live.  Thou  art  my  God."  His  prayer 
was  heard.  Just  then  a  great  wave  tossed  him  against  the 
bank,  and  clutching  the  bushes  which  were  growing  there, 
he  clung  to  them  with  all  his  strength,  although  the  fierce 
torrent  strove  to  tear  him  away.  With  shouts  of  joy  his 
companions  hurried  to  his  rescue.  To  Father  Daniel  il 
seemed  as  if  his  beloved  child  had  risen  from  the  grave,  and 
he  affectionately  embraced  him.  Armand  thought  only  of 
the  loss  of  the  box,  but  the  priest  reproached  him  tenderly 
and  exclaimed :  "  Enough !  Enough !  we  have  you,  and 
let  us  bless  God  for  having  saved  you  from  death." 

217 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

A  few  days  after  that  the  canoes  became  separated,  and 
Daniel  was  the  last  to  arrive  at  a  long  and  difficult  portage 
that  had  to  be  made.  Enfeebled  by  his  long  sickness  and 
exhausted  with  hunger,  for  he  had  eaten  nothing  since  early 
morning,  and  also  wearied  out  by  the  painful  journey  over 
rocks  and  through  swamps  and  woods,  and  probably  af- 
fected by  the  scorching  sun,  he  began  to  reel  under  the 
heavy  pack  he  was  carrying  and  fell  in  a  faint  to  the  ground. 
He  was  all  alone;  his  companions  having  gone  ahead  at  a 
rapid  pace  to  gain  time.  When  consciousness  returned  he 
was  too  feeble  to  rise.  He  found  near  him  three  or  four 
goo'"eberries  which  we  are  assured,  though  we  are  tempted 
to  doubt  the  holy  man's  word,  gave  him  new  strength. 
He  attempted  to  walk,  but  his  aching  head  and  tottering 
limbs  forced  him  to  lie  down  again.  "  I  thought  of  Agar 
and  the  prophet  Elias  in  the  wilderness,"  he  said,  "  and  I 
wondered  if  God  would  help  me  as  He  did  them,  but  my  sins 
prevented  me  from  hoping  for  such  a  favor.  However,  1 
was  consoled  by  the  thought  tliat  if  I  died,  it  was  through 
obedience.  I  remained  an  hour  or  two  in  this  state,  when 
my  men,  perceiving  my  absence,  came  back  to  look  for  me. 
I  asked  them  for  something  to  eat  but  they  said  they  had 
nothing.  They  helped  me  up,  took  my  pack  and  encouraged 
me  to  walk,  and  soon  we  came  to  a  rivulet  which  refreshed 
me  somewhat  and  gave  me  strength  to  reach  Allumettes 
towards  evening.  There  I  found  my  two  seminarists,  and 
also  the  young  Frenchman,  who  v^-ere  very  much  alarmed, 
for  they  had  been  waiting  for  me  for  two  days.  I  met 
Armand's  relatives  and  went  to  their  cabin,  but  at  night  the 
Algonquins  came  to  ask  me  to  go  with  them  to  sing  their 
litanies.  I  was  very  tired,  but  I  dragged  myself  to  their 
wigwam,  for  it  was  sweeter  for  me  than  for  them.  We 
heard  that  the  Fathers  were  safe,  though  they  had  been  in 
considerable  danger,  and  so  after  remaining  a  week  on  the 
Island  to  recuperate,  we  resumed  our  journey  and  readied 
Ihonitiria  July  9th,  having  left  Montreal  the  11th  of  June." 

218 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

Daniel  was  evidently  very  cruel  to  himself.  To  start 
out  after  a  long  illness,  on  a  month's  journey  up  through 
the  wilderness  of  the  Ottawa,  to  carry  his  pack  like  the 
sturdiest  Indian  of  the  party,  to  have  often  nothing  to 
eat  all  day  except,  as  on  this  occasion,  four  gooseber- 
ries, and  then,  after  lying  almost  dead  on  the  road,  to 
stagger  into  the  Indian  town  and  pass  long  hours  of  the 
night  listening  to  a  set  of  howling  savages  singing  litanies 
which  were  "  sweeter  to  him  than  to  them,"  is  to  do  what 
only  a  man  of  heroic  spiritual  stature  could  attempt. 

The  boy  Armand  amazed  and  delighted  the  Fathers  at 
Ihonitiria.  He  was  their  unflinching  and  fearless  cham- 
pion, and  dared  even  to  outface  the  greatest  chief  in  defence 
of  them ;  an  attitude  which  was  a  flagrant  defiance  of  Indian 
proprieties.  He  w^ent  around  explaining  the  mysteries  of 
the  Faith;  labored  to  improve  the  morals  of  the-people,  and 
all  the  time,  though  at  a  considerable  distance  away  from 
the  priests,  he  led  a  life  of  purity  and  prayer  which 
astounded  the  red  men.  He  became  one  of  the  most  fearless 
warriors  of  the  nation,  was  ahvays  in  the  forefront  of 
battle,  and  apparently  immune  against  the  weapons  of  the 
enemy.  "  God  protects  me,"  he  used  to  say ;  "  the  arrows 
seem  to  be  coming  straight  at  me  in  a  shower,  and  then  in 
a  most  remarkable  manner  they  turn  aside." 

In  the  summer  of  1642  he  was  the  centre  of  a  very  remark- 
able occurrence.  A  party  of  braves  w?ere  returning  from 
the  war  path;  all  of  them  belonging  to  St.  Michel,  which 
was  one  of  Daniel's  missions.  When  crossing  a  great  lake 
which  was  about  sixty  miles  in  length  (evidently  our  present 
Lake  Simcoe),  they  were  caught  in  a  furious  storm.  Death 
stared  them  in  the  face,  for  their  little  bark  canoe  could 
never  withstand  the  violence  of  the  waves.  Already  through 
the  howling  of  the  tempest  was  heard  the  moaning  chant  of 
the  savages,  which  they  usually  sung  in  battle  when  all 
hope  of  life  was  lost.  They  saw  the  waves  sweep  over 
them  and  each  moment  expected  to  go  to  the  bottom. 

219 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  only  Christian  in  the  boat  was  Armand.  "  Com- 
rades," he  cried,  "  your  voices  are  drowned  in  this  storm. 
They  can  never  penetrate  into  hell  where  your  miserable 
demons  are  burning.  You  call  on  them  in  vain.  They 
cannot  hear  you.  For  me,  I  shall  have  recourse  to  God,  for 
I  know  that  he  is  everywhere,  and  will  surely  hear  my 
prayer  and  if  He  wishes,  will  have  pity  on  us  although  you 
have  offended  him.  Stop,"  he  said  to  the  man  in  the  stern, 
"  let  the  canoe  go  with  the  wind,  so  that  the  one  in  front 
will  not  have  to  fend  off  the  waves  that  are  dashing  against 
us.  He  must  be  at  rest  to  pray."  They  all  bent  their 
heads  humbly  while  Armand  made  a  vow  to  God  as 
his  devotion  prompted,  and  lo!  the  canoe  stood  still  and 
the  water  near  them  was  as  smooth  as  glass,  while  every 
where  else  the  storm  continued  in  unabated  fury;  "great 
enough,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  to  sink  a  thousand  canoes 
had  they  been  there." 

The  Indians  came  home  and  told  Father  Daniel  the  won- 
derful story,  and  it  was  repeated  in  all  the  villages.  Doubt- 
less the  weary  missionary  thought  then  that  his  school  had 
not  been  altogether  a  failure.  To  have  produced  Armand 
Andewarahan  was  a  sufficient  justification  for  everytliing 
that  had  been  done  to  make  it  a  success. 

What  became  of  this  wonderful  Indian?  Was  he  killed 
in  one  of  the  many  raids,  or  taken  prisoner  and  tortured 
at  the  stake,  and  did  he  remain  a  faithful  Christian  in  spite 
of  the  horrible  conditions  in  which  he  was  compelled  to  live? 

He  appears  again  in  a  fight  with  the  Iroquois  in  1648, 
in  which  very  many  romantic  incidents  are  interwoven, 
lieginning  with  a  curious  and  somewhat  suspicious  occur- 
rence in  front  of  the  fort  at  Three  Rivers.  It  was  the 
:30th  of  May,  and  some  French  canoes  had  gone  out  into 
the  river  to  examine  the  nets  when  they  saw  the  dark  face 
of  an  Iroquois  who  was  swimming  towards  them.  As  he 
wa?  alone,  the  white  men  were  not  alarmed,  and  they  took 
him  into  one  of  the  boats.     Then  they  heard  a  voice  from 

220 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

the  shore  and  saw  a  Huron  who  had  been  formerly  cap- 
tured by  the  Iroquois,  and  adopted  by  one  of  their  tribes, 
who  also  made  signs  to  them,  and  asked  to  be  taken  aboard. 
When  the  two  were  together  they  assured  the  white  men 
that  the  Iroquois  had  no  grudge  against  the  French,  but 
were  bent  only  on  killing  the  Algonquins.  They  both 
agreed  to  go  straight  to  the  fort  and  give  themselves  up  as 
hostages,  to  prove  the  truth  of  their  words.  Meantime  the 
Iroquois  had  made  the  extraordinary  assertion  that  he 
had  tried  to  save  the  life  of  Father  Jogues,  and  in  proof  of 
what  he  said  he  showed  a  scar  on  his  arm  where  he  had  been 
wounded  by  the  tomahawk  that  killed  the  martyr.  "  I  tried 
to  save  the  life  of  Lalande,  also,"  he  said,  "  but  the  young 
men  carried  him  off  before  I  could  reach  him."  Whether 
he  was  lying  or  not  they  could  not  tell,  but  we  are  assured 
that  "  he  seemed  better  than  the  other  Indians." 

About  a  month  after,  another  Iroquois  was  seen  prowl- 
ing around  the  fort  at  night,  and  his  two  tribesmen 
were  made  to  stand  out  on  the  wall  and  shout  to  him  not 
to  harm  the  French.  Whereupon  the  marauder  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  fort,  and  after  the  three  had  conversed  a 
while,  they  reported  to  the  Commandant  that  there  was  a 
large  party  of  Iroquois  in  the  neighborhood,  who  had  their 
sachems  with  them  and  had  come  up  to  make  peace.  "  Send 
one  of  us  down,"  they  said,  "  to  let  them  know  that  we  are 
well  treated."     Later,  another  Irocjuois  was  admitted. 

Willing  to  play  the  game  to  the  end,  the  French  allowed 
one  of  them  to  depart.  He  returned,  as  he  had  agreed,  and 
reported  that  a  canoe  would  arrive  off  the  fort  for  a  parley 
on  the  next  day.  At  the  appointed  time  the  boat  was  seen 
full  of  warriors,  all  of  them  well  armed.  The  chief  swam 
ashore,  and  after  a  conference  with  the  whites  two  more 
Iroquois  gave  themselves  up  as  hostages.  It  seemed  very 
much  like  playing  WMth  fire  to  let  these  treacherous  and 
cunning  savages  inside  the  entrenchments,  but  the  French 
probably  knew  what  they  were  doing.     Finally  after  some 

221 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

days  two  of  the  four  hostages  went  down  the  river,  and 
induced  the  whole  party  to  go  back  to  the  Mohawk  to  in- 
form the  tribe  of  the  peaceful  dispositions  of  the  French, 

Now  the  villain  of  the  story  shows  his  hand.  The  Huron- 
Iroquois  who  had  all  this  time  been  in  the  fort  asked  leave 
to  go  to  Montreal  to  release  some  furs  which  he  had  left 
there  with  a  trader.  As  the  Commandant  wanted  to  com- 
municate with  Maisonneuve,  the  permission  was  granted, 
but  the  Huron  never  went  to  Montreal.  On  the  contrary, 
he  hunted  up  a  roving  band  of  Iroquois,  and  told  them  a 
blood-curdling  story  about  the  treatment  of  the  captive 
Iroquois  at  Three  Rivers,  and  wrought  them  up  to  such 
fury  that  they  fell  upon  a  party  of  whites  and  Hurons 
quite  near  the  fort,  killing  some  and  carrying  off  others  as 
prisoners.  The  news  was  very  startling  for  the  Iroquois  at 
Three  Rivers.  They  had  apparently  been  playing  false. 
They  were  caught,  and  were  convinced  that  they  would  be 
put  to  death.  But  the  French  reassured  them,  and  said 
that  Christians  did  not  break  their  word  in  that  fashion. 
No  harm  would  be  done  to  them ;  so  both  sides  settled  down 
to  wait  for  developments. 

It  was  now  the  14th  of  July,  when  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river  some  one  was  seen  waving  his  blanket  in  the  air, 
and  signalling  to  be  taken  across.  It  was  evidently  a  fugi- 
tive. A  shallop  was  made  ready  and  filled  with  armed  men 
to  forestall  a  surprise.  Their  progress  was  slow\  for  there 
was  very  little  wind,  and  they  saw  the  distant  Indian  begin  to 
make  some  kind  of  a  raft  and  then  get  on  it,  and  paddle 
straight  for  the  shallop.  As  he  came  near,  French  words 
could  be  heard  mingled  with  Huron:  "  Yenez.  venez."  The 
Indian  reached  the  boat  when  it  was  in  mid-stream.  It  was 
Armand  Andewarahan.  Everyone  knew  him,  and  all  haste 
was  made  back  to  the  fort  where  the  throng  gathered  around 
him,  eagerly  plying  him  with  questions.  "  Let  me  alone," 
he  cried ;  "  lead  me  to  the  Prayer  House,  and  get  me  one  of 
the  Fathers.     I  want  to  go  to  confession."     "  I  assure  you 

222 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

he  was  well  prepared,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  for  in  danger 
Faith  works  marvels." 

He  would  not  leave  the  chapel  till  he  had  performed  his 
penance,  and  then  coming  out  he  shouted  in  a  jovial  way: 
*'  Now  get  me  something  to  eat  for  I  am  starving.  It  is 
twenty-four  hours  since  I  tasted  food." 

"  I  was  captured  by  the  Iroquois,"  he  told  them,  "  and 
vi^as  sent  up  from  the  Mohawk  River  with  a  party  who 
were  going  to  make  a  raid  on  Quebec.  We  were  two  days 
out  from  the  last  Mohawk  village  when  we  met  the  first 
band  of  Iroquois  who  had  left  this  place,  and  they  told 
us  such  a  fine  story  of  the  good  treatment  of  the  prisoners 
that  every  one  was  delighted.  The  plan  to  attack  Quebec 
was  abandoned,  and  the  warriors  began  to  contribute  wam- 
pum so  as  to  make  a  good  present  when  we  reached  the 
fort.  After  a  while  the  second  body,  with  the  French 
prisoners  came  along  with  another  story,  viz :  that  the 
Iroquois  in  the  fort  were  being  tortured.  I  denounced  it 
as  a  lie,  but  I  was  not  listened  to.  All  thoughts  of  peace 
were  abandoned,  and  the  old  plan  was  resumed  and  we  came 
up  here.  They  are  down  below  you,  a  hundred  strong,  and 
are  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  I  succeeded  in  getting  away 
from  them  and  here  I  am." 

This  story  aroused  the  four  Iroquois  hostages  to  fury 
against  the  treacherous  Huron  whose  lies  had  brought  on 
all  the  trouble.  "  Send  one  of  us  down  to  see  our  people," 
they  said,  "  and  if  he  does  not  return,  kill  the  other  three 
who  remain."  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  one  of  them 
left  the  fort.  At  midnight  he  was  heard  outside  clamoring 
for  admission.  "  I  was  nearly  killed,"  he  said,  "  for  they 
mistook  me  for  a  Huron.  They  were  astonished  to  hear 
that  we  were  safe  and  sound,  and  are  determined  to  take 
vengeance  on  the  Huron  who  misled  them.  They  will  be 
here  to-morrow,  if  you  let  them  know  by  a  report  of  a 
cannon  tb.at  I  have  arrived  and  have  delivered  this  message." 

In  accordance  with  this  request  the  cannon  boomed  over 

223 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  St.  Lawrence  at  midnight,  and  next  morning  two  Iro- 
quois canoes  appeared  far  out  in  the  river  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  guns.  But  there  were  no  French  prisoners  with 
them  as  had  been  agreed.  While  they  were  waiting  there, 
the  Iroquois  hostages  stood  on  the  walls  of  the  fort 
hurling  denunciations  at  their  countrymen  for  leaving  them 
to  be  killed.  "  Whether  it  was  all  a  bit  of  stage  play  or 
not,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  the  sequel  will  show." 

Two  days  passed  by  and  the  Iroquois  were  still  prowling 
around.  On  the  17th  of  July  a  pretence  was  made  to  attack 
them  and  they  asked  for  a  parley.  They  said  they  were 
hungry  and  were  looking  for  a  supply  of  food.  They  lied, 
of  course,  for  afterwards,  eighty  sacks  of  corn  were  found 
in  their  canoes.  The  French  refused  to  treat  with  them 
unless  the  white  prisoners  were  delivered  up,  and  the  Iro- 
quois turned  aw-ay  in  a  very  surly  mood,  but  before  they 
withdrew,  a  captive  Huron,  who  was  with  them,  whispered 
to  one  of  his  compatriots  that  it  was  all  a  scheme,  and  that  in 
a  day  or  two.  Three  Rivers  w-ould  be  invested  on  all  sides. 
That  night,  however,  the  prisoner  who  had  claimed  to  have 
defended  Father  Jogues  went  down  among  the  Iroquois, 
and  brought  back  a  white  man  named  Couture,  who  said 
he  was  a  relative  of  the  Couture  who  had  been  Father 
Jogues'  companion. 

While  all  this  manoeuvring  was  going  on,  two  Huron 
canoes  were  seen  coming  down  the  stream,  all  the  time  stick- 
ing close  to  the  north  shore.  They  had  scarcely  shown 
themselves,  when  instantly  a  great  number  of  Iroquois  boats 
darted  from  the  reeds  where  they  were  concealed  to  inter- 
cept them.  They  went  like  the  wind.  The  tocsin  of  the  fort 
was  sounded ;  the  garrison  rushed  to  arms,  when  suddenly  a 
volley  of  musketry  was  lieard  in  the  distance ;  then  another, 
and  finally  the  sound  died  away  in  the  woods.  Was  it  a  trick 
to  lure  the  garrison  out  of  the  defences?  No  one  could  tell, 
and  for  safety  sake  the  men  were  ordered  inside  the  palisade. 

But  they  were  scarcely  at  their  posts  when  the  news  came 

004. 


ANTHONY   DANIEL. 

tliai  it  was  a  genuine  battle,  and  that  a  body  of  two  hundred 
Hurons  had  been  disastrously  defeated.  The  soldiers  hung 
Iheir  heads  in  grief  and  shame.  Their  allies  had  been  mur- 
dered near  at  hand,  and  had  received  no  help.  They  were 
gloomy  and  depressed,  when  suddenly  a  solitary  ?Iuron 
canoe  was  seen  approaching,  followed  by  two  others  which 
were  clearly  Iroquois.  A  rush  was  made  for  the  boats  in 
order  to  protect  the  fugitive,  and  the  garrison  stood  on  the 
beach  to  await  the  result.  The  Huron  canoe  was  seen  to  stop 
as  if  expecting  to  be  attacked.  Then  some  one  cried :  "Look, 
they  are  saluting  each  other."  Then  all  together,  in  the  most 
friendly  fashion  paddled  down  the  stream  together.  They 
approached  the  shore  and  lo!  seated  in  the  canoe  holding 
aloft  the  banner  of  the  cross  was  Father  Bressani,  who  was 
thought  to  be  in  Huronia.  Loud  huzzahs  greeted  him  as 
he  stepped  ashore,  and  every  one  threw  their  arms  about 
him  and  cried  "  Tell  us  what  it  means?  "  "  Not  yet,"  he 
answered.  "  Come  to  the  church  first  and  let  us  sing  a 
Te  Deum  to  thank  God;  the  Iroquois  are  defeated." 

When  Bressani  had  satisfied  his  piety  he  told  them  this 
story:  "We  could  not  come  down  last  year  because  we 
were  closely  invested,  but  w^e  resolved  to  do  it  this  year  at 
any  cost,  for  we  were  starving  to  death.  We  started  out 
two  hundred  and  fifty  strong.  With  us  were  one  hundred 
and  twenty  Christians  who  never  failed  to  say  their  prayers 
publicly,  twice  a  day,  in  spite  of  the  pagans  around  them. 
Never  did  they  observe  such  order  and  vigilance.  For  two 
hundred  leagues  w^e  saw  no  sign  of  the  enemy,  until  we 
came  here  near  Three  Rivers,  when  the  braves  went 
ashore  to  paint  up  for  their  triumphant  entry  into 
the  fort.  A  detachment  had  already  got  out  into  the 
river  when  the  Iroquois  caught  sight  of  them,  and,  as  you 
saw,  swept  down  upon  us  like  the  wind.  We  formed  in 
a  semicircle  to  receive  them.  It  was  a  fierce  fight  with 
muskets  and  knives,  and  not  one  would  have  escaped  had 
not  some  cowards  faltered,  and  let  a  number  of  them  break 

225 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

through  the  line.  Even  they  could  have  been  caught,  but 
the  desire  to  rest  after  the  long  journey  prevented  pursuit." 

Bressani  was  finishing  his  story,  when  the  victorious 
Hurons  were  seen  approaching.  It  was  a  grewsome  spec- 
tacle. Sixty  canoes  moved  slowly  down  the  stream,  holding 
the  bloody  scalps  in  the  air,  the  victors  keeping  time  with 
their  paddles  while  the  Iroquois  chanted  their  doleful  death 
song  as  a  preparation  for  the  torture  that  awaited  them. 
But  when  they  were  brought  in,  only  one  was  made  to 
suffer,  and  he  was  a  renegade  Huron.  The  torments  were 
atrocious,  but  the  Fathers  could  not  prevent  the  execution, 
for  the  savage  law  was  peremptory  on  that  point. 

Bressani,  of  course,  was  the  hero  of  the  occasion.  Mont- 
magny  came  up  from  Quebec  to  salute  the  victors ;  and  after 
the  usual  councils,  the  Hurons  got  into  their  canoes  and 
paddled  homewards,  taking  with  them  Gabriel  Lalemant, 
who  was  soon  to  die  at  St.  Ignace,  and  four  other  Jesuits : 
Fathers  Bonin,  Greslon,  d'Aran,  and  Brother  Noirclair. 
It  is  quite  likely  that  our  Indian,  Armand,  who  was  con- 
spicuous in  all  the  fights  in  this  war  at  Three  Rivers,  had 
not  yet  heard  of  the  death  of  his  beloved  Father  Daniel, 
which  occurred  at  St.  Joseph's  on  the  4th  of  July  previous. 
However,  some  intelligence  of  it  may  have  been  brought 
down  by  Indians  before  the  new  expedition  started  up  the 
river. 

We  do  not  know  whether  he  returned  home  with 
the  missionaries,  but  very  likely  he  did.  After  that  we  lose 
sight  of  him  for  seven  years,  and  then  our  eyes  are  delighted 
by  a  glorious  record  of  him  in  the  "  Relation  "  of  1655, 
which  describes  the  condition  of  the  Hurons  who  had  come 
down  after  the  wreck  of  the  missions  to  the  Isle  d'Orleans. 
It  reads  thus :  "  This  year  there  died  at  this  place  a  remark- 
able young  Indian,  who  for  seventeen  years  not  only  never 
proved  false  to  the  promises  of  his  baptism,  but  who,  on  the 
contrary,  improved  each  year  in  piety  and  devotion.  His 
name  is  Armand  Andewarahan."     It  was  no  other  than  our 

336 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

young  hero,  whose  career  all  through  the  horrors  of  savage 
life  had  shed  such  glory  on  the  Faith. 

Although  he  was  absent  when  Daniel  was  put  to  death, 
it  is  more  than  likely,  though  we  cannot  positively  affirm 
it,  that  next  year  he  was  among  the  gallant  Bears  who  routed 
the  Iroquois  at  the  time  that  de  Brebeuf  and  Lalemant  were 
martyred ;  that  he  had  seen  St.  Mary's  given  over  to  the 
flames,  and  was  among  those  who  came  down  with 
Ragueneau  after  Christian  Island  was  abandoned.  At  all 
events  he  was  now  a  member  of  Chaumonot's  famous  So- 
dality, which  used  to  send  its  birch-bark  letters  and  wampum 
belts  to  the  great  shrines  of  Europe. 

To  that  Indian  Sodality  no  ordinary  Christian  could 
belong.  They  called  themselves  the  Servants  of  Mary,  and 
they  were  not  merely  nominal  servants.  They  met  at  day- 
break on  Sundays  and  festivals,  and  instead  of  the  Office  re- 
cited their  beads  in  alternate  choirs,  taking  about  an  hour  to 
do  so ;  because  after  every  decade  there  was  an  exhortation, 
sometimes  by  the  Father  Director,  sometimes  by  the  Indian 
Prefect.  It  is  not  said  that  Armand  filled  that  office,  but 
as  the  prefect  is  described  in  the  "  Relation  "  as  ''  a  Chris- 
tian of  rare  virtue  and  holy  zeal,"  we  may  be  pardoned  if 
we  try  to  see  him  in  that  function. 

The  recitation  of  the  beads  was  only  a  preparation  for 
Mass,  during  which  they  sang  the  Gloria  in  excelsis  and 
Credo  in  Huron.  The  women's  voices,  we  are  told,  were 
particularly  sweet. 

At  nightfall  every  Sunday  they  assembled  for  Benediction, 
and  sang  the  litanies  or  a  hymn  in  honor  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  They  were  all  irreproachable  in  their  conduct,  and 
the  fact  that  a  girl  was  a  Child  of  Mary  absolutely  debarred 
any  attention  being  paid  to  her  by  dissolute  Indians.  The 
purity  of  their  consciences  and  the  tenderness  of  their  piety 
were  the  talk  of  everyone. 

If  not  the  Prefect,  Armand  was  one  of  the  conspicuous 
members  of  the  Sodality.     Every  day  he  heard  two  Masses, 

227 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

kneeling  erect  on  the  bare  ground,  his  hands  clasped  in 
prayer.  The  bitterest  cold  never  kept  him  away.  When 
he  had  concluded  his  devotions,  he  labored  at  his  little 
patch  of  earth,  and  when  he  rested  it  was  to  recite  his 
beads,  which  he  did  five  or  six  times  a  day.  Finally  he  fell 
ill  and  asked  to  be  taken  to  the  hospital,  so  as  to  be  cared 
for  by  the  Holy  Maidens  as  the  Hurons  called  the  nuns. 
They  were  delighted  to  receive  him,  and  as  his  illness  seemed 
a  slight  one  he  was  about  to  leave,  when  he  had  a  relapse 
and  called  for  Father  Chaumonot.  He  made  his  confession 
with  deep  compunction  of  heart  and  the  profoundest  grati- 
tude for  the  gift  of  the  Faith.  When  extreme  unction  was 
administered  he  died,  and  thus  the  curtain  drops  on  the 
romantic  career  of  Armand  Andewarahan. 

There  is  a  beautiful  epilogue  to  this  life  drama  of  the 
young  Indian.  His  wife,  Felicite,  was  a  pious  Christian,  but 
after  Armand's  death,  her  brother,  who  had  been  adopted  by 
the  Iroquois,  asked  her  to  join  him.  She  loved  him  tenderly 
and  was  about  to  go.  The  Fathers  warned  her  of  the  danger 
of  living  among  pagans,  but  she  replied :  "There  is  no  dan- 
ger for  me.  I  love  my  brother  indeed,  but  I  love  Christ 
more."  She  was  already  in  the  canoe  and  was  bidding  her 
friends  good-bye.  "  If  you  really  love  God  more  than  your 
brother,"  said  the  priest,  "you  ought  in  that  case  to  make  the 
sacrifice  of  your  brother's  love  for  God."  The  poor  woman 
was  silent  for  a  moment  and  tears  streamed  down  her  cheeks. 
"Must  I  do  that?"  she  asked.  "If  I  must,  I  will,  if  I 
die  for  it."  She  fell  into  a  swoon  and  for  twenty-four 
hours  remained  unconscious,  and  was  thought  to  be  at  the 
point  of  death.  Finally  she  recovered.  Her  heart  was 
broken  but  she  remained  true  to  her  promise  till  she  went. 
to  join  her  holy  Armand.  "  The  souls  of  these  Indians," 
says  the  "  Relation,"  "  are  capable  of  divine  impulses,  and 
faith  elevates  them  as  it  does  us  above  the  sentiments  of 
nature." 

It  may  be  remembered  that  just  before  the  fight  in  1648. 

228 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

an  Iroquois  swam  out  to  a  French  canoe  in  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  asked  to  be  taken  as  a  hostage  to  the  fort  at  Three 
Rivers,  claiming  that  he  had  attempted  to  save  the  Hfe  of 
Father  Jogues  two  years  before.  Though  the  French 
doubted  his  story,  they  took  very  kindly  to  him.  He  was 
quite  superior  to  the  rest  of  the  savages,  and  when  the 
war  was  over  and  the  other  hostages  had  either  decamped 
or  been  dismissed,  Le  Berger,  as  they  called  him,  remained 
in  the  fort,  and  some  of  the  French  began  to  grow 
nervous  about  him.  It  was  even  intimated  that  the  best 
thing  to  do  was  to  kill  him,  as  he  knew  too  much  about  the 
weakness  of  the  defences — a  suggestion  which  shows  how 
association  with  savages  reacts  upon  civilized  man.  Better 
counsels  prevailed,  however,  and  he  was  sent  to  Quebec. 
On  the  way  down  he  was  securely  bound  at  night  with 
ropes  and  chains,  to  prevent  him  from  going  overboard  and 
taking  to  the  woods ;  an  unintelligible  precaution,  because 
he  could  have  escaped  at  any  time  during  the  'preceding 
months.  To  the  surprise  of  every  one,  how'ever,  he  stood 
on  deck  next  morning  perfectly  free  of  his  fetters.  The 
next  night  he  was  bound  more  securely  than  ever,  but  w^ith 
the  same  result  as  before.  The  Frenchmen  were  much 
alarmed  and  began  to  think  that  they  had  to  do  with  a 
wizard,  and  deliberated  very  seriously  about  dropping  him 
into  the  river  with  a  weight  attached  to  his  heels. 

When  he  arrived  at  Quebec  the  priest  asked  him  how  it 
all  happened,  and  he  quietly  answered :  "  I  prayed.  When 
I  saw  myself  so  badly  treated  by  the  French,  from  whom  I 
learned  all  I  know  about  the  Almighty,  and  as  I  felt  myself 
suffering  very  much  from  the  way  they  bound  me  I  prayed 
to  God :  '  O  Thou  who  hast  made  all  things.  Thou  knowest 
that  the  French  are  doing  wrong  in  treating  me  so  harshly. 
They  take  me  for  a  traitor  w^iich  I  am  not.  Thou  who 
knowest  it,  have  pity  on  me.'  When  I  had  said  these 
words  the  chains  fell  off  though  I  had  made  no  effort  to  set 
myself  free."     "  Thus,"  says  Ragueneau,   "  God  wrought 

229 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  miracle  to  save  this  soul,  and  though  again  and  again  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  and  a  surgeon  who  was  on  board  used 
all  their  ingenuity  to  bind  him,  he  was  always  free  and  there 
was  no  break  noticeable  in  the  ropes  or  chains." 

The  poor  fellow  was  a  puzzle  to  everyone,  and  they 
thought  the  best  thing  to  do  v^as  to  send  him  to  France  along 
with  Father  Le  Jeune,  wdio  was  just  about  to  sail.  So  they 
departed  together,  and  on  the  way  over,  the  Indian  de- 
lighted every  one  by  his  gentleness  of  manner  as  well  as 
his  eagerness  to  be  instructed  in  the  Faith,  of  which  he 
knew  a  great  deal  already. 

When  they  reached  Havre  and  he  saw  the  fleets  of  ships, 
the  houses  crowding  on  each  other,  and  the  throngs  of  people 
on  the  street  he  became  speechless.  He  now  believed  all 
he  had  heard  from  the  palefaces  in  America.  It  happened 
to  be  market  day  when  he  left  Havre  for  Dieppe,  and  as  the 
country  roads  were  as  thronged  as  the  city  streets,  it 
added  to  his  amazement.  He  had  not  his  usual  savage 
stride  as  he  walked  along,  for  he  was  wearing  French 
shoes  which  soon  became  intolerable,  so  he  took  them  off  and 
went  barefoot,  though  it  was  well  on  in  December  and  the 
roadway  was  abominable.  By  the  time  he  had  reached 
Dieppe  he  had  injured  himself,  and  was  suffering  besides 
from  an  incipient  fever,  caught  probably  on  shipboard ;  so 
Father  Le  Jeune  put  him  in  a  hospital,  intending  to 
go  on  alone  to  Paris.  But  the  poor  Indian  could  speak  to  no 
one  and  was  very  lonesome,  so  he  begged  to  continue  the 
journey.  He  attempted  it,  but  had  to  be  brought  back  again 
to  Dieppe.  There  he  was  a  model  of  good  behavior.  He 
was  constantly  in  the  chapel  or  kneeling  in  the  corridor 
when  the  priest  passed  by  carrying  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
to  the  sick.  Strange  to  say  he  had  not  yet  been  baptized, 
and  when  anyone  wished  to  make  him  happy  it  was  only 
necessary  to  intimate  that  he  would  soon  be  made  a  Chris- 
tian. He  was  a  constant  delight  to  the  good  Sisters,  and 
became  a  hero  when  a  fire  broke  out  next  to  the  hospital. 

230 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

Sick  as  he  was  he  scaled  the  burning  building  and  did  more 
than  a  dozen  others  to  extinguish  the  flames.  He  had  had 
plenty  of  practice  in  that  kind  of  exercise  in  his  native  vil- 
lage. Finally  he  heard  that  Le  Jeune  wanted  him  in  Paris, 
and  fancying  he  was  sufficiently  strong  pleaded  to  go.  The 
priest  met  him  in  the  great  city,  but  the  fever  was  burning 
him  up  and  he  had  again  to  be  put  to  bed.  All  the  time  he 
was  begging  to  be  baptized,  but  again  and  again  it  was  de- 
ferred. At  last  he  fell  into  convulsions,  and  when  he  revived 
and  saw  the  priest  standing  over  him  with  surplice  and  stole, 
to  begin  the  ceremony,  his  joy  knew  no  bounds.  A  half  an 
hour  after  becoming  a  Christian  his  soul  went  off  to  join 
Father  Jogues,  who  had  evidently  watched  over  his  heroic 
defender,  and  had  led  him  to  heaven.  Incidentally  it  is  a 
curious   instance  of  delay  in  the  matter  of  baptism. 


231 


CHAPTER  III. 
The  Last  Days. 

We  have  wandered  far  from  Father  Daniel,  but  the  study 
of  the  virtue  of  young  Armand  will  have  helped  us  to 
appreciate  the  greatness  of  the  spiritual  guide  who  had  led 
him  in  the  paths  of  holiness.  We  may  now,  however,  return 
to  the  time  when  they  both  found  themselves  in  Huronia, 
after  the  failure  of  the  Indian  school  in  Quebec.  It  was 
in  the  year  1638,  and  as  far  as  we  can  unravel  the  tangled 
skein  of  the  chronology  of  the  "  Relations,"  his  return  must 
have  been  before  August  38.  In  the  following  year  we 
find  him  at  Ossossane,  with  five  other  Jesuits.  At  that  time 
and  possibly  before,  he  was  known  as  Anouenen,  which 
seems  to  be  the  result  of  an  Indian  attempt  to  pronounce  the 
name  Daniel. 

During  1G38  and  1639  he  went  to  the  various  Indian 
towns  among  which  was  Tenaustaye  or  St.  Joseph's,  wath 
which  ten  years  later  he  was  to  be  so  tragically  associated. 
In  1640  Jerome  Lalemant  abolished  all  the  residences  except 
St.  Mary's  on  the  Wye,  and  from  that  time  the  Fathers 
travelled  during  the  winter  months  to  the  various  aggrega- 
tions of  people  throughout  the  country.  Daniel  seems  to 
have  been  assigned  most  frequently  to  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
which  was  down  near  the  shores  of  what  is  now  Lake  Sim- 
coe,  near  the  present  town  of  Hawkstone.  This  town  prided 
itself  as  being  the  place  at  which  Champlain  remained  the 
longest  time  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Huronia.  It  was 
known  as  Cahiague,  and  the  memory  of  the  great  explorer 
was  always  held  in  the  greatest  veneration  there,  because 
of  the  irreproachable  purity  of  his  life.  "  Would  to  God," 
exclaims  the  writer  of  the  "  Relation,"  "  that  all  the  French- 
men who  came  out  here  in  the  beginning  had  been  like  him. 

232 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

We  should  not  now  be  obliged  to  blush  when  the  savages 
cast  up  to  us  the  shameless  debauchery  of  the  voyageurs, 
and  ask  us  why  they  should  believe  in  hell  since  many  of  the 
Frenchmen  whom  they  saw  seemed  to  have  no  fear  of  it." 
From  the  beginning,  the  association  of  the  French  with 
this  particular  section  of  the  tribe  naturally  suggested 
a  mission.  But  none  of  the  Fathers  except,  de  Brebeuf 
could  as  yet  speak  the  language,  and,  moreover,  Ihonitiria 
demanded  all  their  energies.  It  was  desirable,  also,  to  keep 
the  missionaries  together  at  least  until  they  were  formed 
to  the  manner  of  life  of  the  Indians.  But  the  arrival  of  help 
from  Quebec  at  last  made  a  mission  feasible  at  Cahiague, 
and  Daniel  and  Le  Moyne  were  charged  with  the  work. 
Their  welcome  at  the  place  which  they  called  St.  John  Bap- 
tist's was  most  cordial,  each  lodge  vying  with  its  neighbor 
in  offering  them  hospitality.  The  esteem  for  them  increased 
when  the  ever  recurring  malady  of  the  small-pox  swept 
over  the  town,  and  the  devotion  which  the  Fathers  displayed 
night  and  day  in  aiding  the  sick  helped  them  to  win  every 
heart.  Indeed,  the  sanguine  missionaries  already  foresaw 
the  conversion  of  the  entire  tribe,  when  suddenly  the  sky 
became  overcast.  One  of  the  hunters  who  had  been  absent 
when  they  came,  arrived  at  the  village  in  a  state  of  con- 
sternation. ''  While  I  was  alone  in  the  forest,"  he  said,  "  a 
beautiful  young  man  appeared  to  me  and  declared  that  he 
was  the  Lord  of  the  World.  I  am  the  one  whom  the 
French  call  Jesus,  but  they  do  not  know  me.  I  have  pity 
on  your  nation  and  take  it  under  my  protection,  and  there- 
fore I  want  to  tell  you  the  reason  of  the  sickness  that  is  now 
destroying  you  all,  and  what  you  are  to  do  to  stop  it.  The 
cause  of  it  is  the  presence  of  those  strangers.  You  see 
them  going  everywhere,  two  and  two,  in  their  black  gowns. 
That  is  to  spread  the  pestilence.  The  only  thing  to  do  is 
to  drive  them  out.  For  those  who  are  already  attacked  by 
the  disease,  tell  your  sachems  to  get  a  certain  kind  of  water 
and  let  them  carry  it  to  tb.e  sick  all  night  long,  while  the 

233 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

braves  go  from  cabin  to  cabin  as  madmen.  This  must  be 
kept  up  till  daybreak.  Go  as  fast  as  you  can  and  have  all 
this  done." 

The  command  threw  the  town  into  an  uproar.  Three 
successive  councils  were  convened,  and  it  was  decided  that 
there  was  no  help  for  it.  The  injunctions  must  be  carried 
out  to  the  letter,  and  that  evening,  all  the  chiefs  went 
around  exhorting  the  braves  to  commit  the  wildest  excesses 
and  immediately  the  tumult  started.  Nothing  was  heard 
till  after  midnight  but  shouts  and  yells.  Men  in  hideous 
masks  and  ridiculous  dresses  danced  through  the  streets 
screaming  out  the  direst  threats,  looting  houses,  destroying 
objects  of  value,  and  no  one  dared  to  stop  them.  "  Mean- 
time," says  the  "Relation,"  six  old  men  were  trotting  around 
in  solemn  silence  carrying  the  huge  cauldrons  of  water 
prescribed  by  the  ghost,  and  like  so  many  apothecaries  pour- 
ing it  down  the  throats  of  the  sick."  But  the  night  was  too 
cold  for  those  solemn  physicians  and  naked  braves,  and  long 
before  dawn,  in  spite  of  the  spirit's  command,  they  were 
rolled  up  in  their  blankets. 

The  failure  to  be  exact  in  this  savage  ritual  was  serious, 
for  if  all  the  conditions  of  a  dream  are  not  fulfilled  the  charm 
is  broken.  So  they  went  at  it  again,  and  the  horrors  were 
renewed  night  after  night  for  a  week — "  the  week  of  the 
Infant  Jesus,"  moans  the  horrified  Father. 

This  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  shocked  but  did  not  sur- 
prise Daniel.  The  primitive  delusion  of  the  missionaries 
that  these  guileless  savages  had  no  set  form  of  worship  and 
would  readily  accept  the  Gospel  had  long  since  vanished, 
and  they  were  now  almost  convinced  that  they  had  to  do 
with  devil  worship  or  its  equivalent.  Indeed  there  were 
plenty  of  things  occurring  all  the  time  which  were  very  hard 
to  explain  by  mere  natural  causes.  Thus  there  was  an  old 
sorcerer  who  could  direct  the  braves  almost  infallibly  where 
to  go  for  game,  telling  them  what  they  would  get.  Implicit 
trust  was  placed  in  him,  which  was  rarely  disappointed.    He 

234 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

explained  his  power  by  the  fact  that  when  he  was  sixteen, 
and  while  performing  the  official  sweating  ceremony,  a  ven- 
erable man  appeared  to  him  and  offered  him  some  human 
flesh  to  eat.  When  that  was  refused  bear's  meat  was  given 
him  which  he  eat,  and  he  received  in  consequence  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  movements  of  animals.  "  If  I  had  only  eaten 
the  human  flesh,"  he  said  regretfully,  "  I  could  get  the  best 
of  all  our  enemies."  He  also  pretended  to  have  been  told 
almost  everything  that  was  to  happen  throughout  his  life. 
Of  course  he  may  have  been  lying,  but  he  was  believed  and 
venerated  by  everyone. 

For  these  poor  wretches  a  dream  was  considered  to  be  a 
real  personality  whose  commands  had  to  be  rigidly  obeyed. 
Thus  there  is  an  instance  of  one  unlucky  wight  dreaming  that 
he  was  to  be  tortured  by  the  Iroquois.  As  in  duty  bound 
he  consulted  his  friends,  and  they  solemnly  decided  that 
he  had  to  undergo  the  torture,  for  which  they  would  act  as 
Iroquois.  So  they  hacked  him  and  gashed  him  and  rolled 
him  in  the  fire,  stopping  only  short  of  killing  him.  To  avoid 
that,  they  let  him  escape,  and  he  ran  off  and  caught  a  dog 
which  he  presented  to  them  as  a  substitute.  The  animal 
was  roasted  and  eaten,  and  the  dream-god  propitiated.  The 
Iroquois  were  supposed  to  have  thus  vicariously  swallowed 
a  Huron. 

During  all  this  commotion,  none  of  the  Fathers  were  ill- 
treated  except  poor  Chaumonot,  whose  head  was  badly  bat- 
tered by  a  stone  in  the  hands  of  a  young  reprobate  who 
really  intended  murder,  and  would  have  succeeded  had  not 
Daniel  and  some  Indians  rushed  in  between  him  and  his 
victim.  It  may  be  noted  that  the  medical  treatment  which 
Chaumonot  received  was  of  a  kind  not  known  to  the  modern 
profession.  The  doctor  scarified  the  bruise  with  a  hot  stone, 
then  spat  on  the  spot  and  applied  a  poultice  of  roots;  and 
the  patient  was  well  next  day  from  the  blow,  if  not  from 
the  bum.  The  punishment  of  the  culprit  was  in  accordance 
with  accepted  views  of  justice.     The  only  penalty  imposed 

235 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

was  lo  tell  him  that  he  had  no  sense,  and  even  that  mild 
suggestion  had  to  be  made  by  his  next  of  kin. 

In  1641,  St.  John  the  Baptist's  and  St.  Joseph's  were 
made  one  mission,  and  entrusted  to  Fathers  Daniel  and 
Le  Moyne.  It  was  a  very  considerable  increase  of  labor 
and  danger  for  them,  for  the  places  were  far  apart,  and  there 
was  always  a  chance  of  meeting  the  Iroquois  on  the  road 
in  going  from  one  post  to  the  other,  but  w^e  are  assured 
that  the  more  their  trouble  increased  the  happier  they  were. 
It  was  in  St.  John  the  Baptist's  that  Daniel  found  one  of 
his  former  seminarists,  who  had  been  at  Quebec  for  six 
months,  but  had  never  really  got  rid  of  his  paganism. 
Indeed  on  his  return  to  Huronia,  he  had  every  mark  of 
ultimate  reprobation  stamped  on  him.  But  down  deep  in 
his  heart  the  good  seed  had  been  sprouting.  He  fell  ill, 
and  clamored  for  the  priest.  His  pagan  brother  had  to 
tramp  off  thirty-six  miles  to  get  Father  Daniel,  who  found 
the  poor  wretch  heart-broken  over  his  bad  life.  He  was 
baptized  before  he  expired,  giving  the  Father  one  more  con- 
solation for  his  Quebec  experiment. 

Perhaps  the  reader  may  remember  the  Indian  boy  who  was 
homesick,  and  who  on  the  way  back  to  Huronia  was  nearly 
caught  by  the  Iroquois  but  succeeded  in  m.aking  his  escape 
and  arriving  at  Three  Rivers.  He  had  returned  home  with 
Father  Daniel  and  Armand  in  1638,  but  the  evil  surround- 
ings were  too  much  for  him,  and  over  and  over  again  he 
fell  into  grievous  disorders.  He  was  finally  saved  yet 
"  so  as  by  fire,"  for  he  was  nearly  burned  to  death.  Later 
he  expired  in  the  most  pious  dispositions. 

St.  Joseph's  or  Tenaustaye  had  been  always  a  hard  place 
to  manage.  It  was  one  of  the  great  Huron  towns,  and  had 
a  population  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  Indians,  or,  to 
be  more  exact,  four  hundred  families,  a  census,  it  may  be 
remarked  in  passing,  which  would  go  to  show  that  the 
Hurons  were  not  a  prolific  race.  However,  many  of  the 
children  of  the  tribe  died  because  of  the  ignorance  of  their 

236 


ANTHONY   DANIEL. 

mothers  in  taking  care  of  them.  They  were,  indeed,  easy 
victims  of  disease,  want  and  exposure.  Unhappily  the  size  of 
the  town  increased  the  difficulty  of  its  conversion,  because 
of  the  influential  pagan  element  that  had  to  be  dealt  with. 
Nevertheless  conversions  began  to  multiply,  piety  increased, 
and  in  1G46  a  regular  chapel  was  established,  in  which  the 
ceremonies  of  the  church  were  carried  out  w'ith  all  the 
solemnity  possible,  the  Christians  having  become  courageous 
enough  to  go  through  the  streets  in  procession  to  the  ceme- 
tery which  they  insisted  on  having  apart  from  the  common 
burial  ground  of  the  town.  Sunday  was  always  a  great 
day  there ;  and  many  went  to  Holy  Communion,  preparing 
for  it  two  or  three  days  ahead.  Weekly  confession  was 
common  among  them.  At  mid-day  on  festivals  the  bell 
summoned  all  to  the  sermon  or  catechism,  and  the  recitation 
of  the  rosary,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  afternoon  was 
spent  in  various  exercises  of  devotion. 

In  the  interests  of  truth  it  must  be  remarked  here  that 
the  bell  which  summoned  the  faithful  to  prayers  must  have 
often  made  these  holy  missionaries  smile  when  they  heard 
its  clangor.  It  was  not  the  carillon  or  gros  bourdon  they 
had  been  accustomed  to  in  their  native  country ;  nor  did  it 
send  its  loud  peal  over  the  village  and  to  the  country  beyond. 
It  was  often  only  a  discarded  pot ;  but  the  people  had  great 
reverence  for  it ;  and  it  is  recorded  that  an  old  Indian  stood 
at  the  risk  of  his  life  to  defend  one  of  these  bells  which  a 
furious  savage  was  going  to  tear  down  from  the  tree  on 
which  it  w-as  hung.  The  massacre  of  Deerfield,  which  hap- 
pened much  later  on  in  Connecticut,  was  said  to  have  been 
caused  in  great  part  because  the  New  Englanders  had  carried 
off  a  bell  from  an  Indian  settlement. 

St.  Joseph's  produced  some  wonderful  Christians,  two  of 
whom  at  least  deserve  recognition  here.  One  of  them  was 
Etienne  Totiri,  who  had  been  with  Father  Jogues  in  the 
fatal  meeting  near  Three  Rivers.  Though  he  escaped  cap- 
ture he  lost  everything  he  had.    When  he  returned  home  the 

237 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

first  news  he  received  was  that  his  mother  had  died  in  his 
absence.  "  Tell  me,"  he  said,  "  did  she  die  a  Christian?  " 
When  assured  that  she  had  expired  in  the  most  pious  and 
holy  sentiments,  he  did  not  want  to  hear  another  word. 
He  was  perfectly  happy.  He  not  only  professed  his  faith 
openly,  but  he  fenced  off  a  part  of  his  lodge  to  afford  a 
chapel  for  the  Fathers,  though  it  brought  upon  him  no  end 
of  persecution.  He  went  about  preaching  Christianity,  and 
he  dared  to  do  what  no  other  Indian  would  have  attempted. 

One  day  he  happened  to  be  in  the  village  of  St.  Ignatius, 
just  as  an  Iroquois  was  being  burned  to  death.  In  spite  of 
every  effort  to  stop  him,  he  went  up  to  the  stake  where  the 
victim  was  writhing  and  succeeded  not  only  in  instructing 
him,  but  in  inducing  him  to  ask  for  baptism.  As  soon  as  he 
got  the  Indian's  consent  he  started  like  a  flash  for  some 
water.  When  he  came  back  with  a  basin  the  savages  tried 
to  dash  it  from  his  hands,  but  he  fought  his  way  fiercely 
through  the  crowds,  flinging  his  opponents  right  and  left 
until  he  reached  the  dying  Iroquois  and  forthwith  made  him 
a  Christian. 

On  another  occasion,  when  the  Christian  cemetery  was 
desecrated,  Totiri  mounted  the  roof  of  his  cabin  and  began 
to  shout  in  a  loud  voice  as  was  the  custom  when  summoning 
the  tribe  to  war.  Every  one  seized  his  weapons  and  rushed 
to  the  scene  to  find  out  on  what  side  the  enemy  was  ap- 
proaching. They  saw  only  Totiri  shouting  and  gesticu- 
lating :  "  The  enemy  is  not  outside,"  he  said,  *'  but  here 
in  our  town.  You  have  dared  to  desecrate  the  cemetery  of 
the  Christians.  God  will  avenge  the  insult,  for  the  dead 
are  sacred.  Even  you  pagans  will  not  allow  anything  you 
have  hung  over  a  grave  to  be  touched.  Destroy  my  lodge 
if  you  will ;  ill-treat  me;  I  will  stand  it;  but  as  long  as  I  live 
I  will  make  you  know  the  enormity  of  your  crime  and  what 
a  terrible  thing  it  is  to  make  God  your  enemy."  His  words 
had  their  effect  and  ever  afterwards  the  cemetery  was 
respected. 

•     2SH 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

Ahitsasteari  was  another  Christian  of  St.  Joseph's  who, 
hke  Totiri,  had  gone  with  Father  Jogues,  but  who,  unhke 
his  fellow  tribesman,  had  been  unable  to  escape.  He  ended 
his  life  in  torture  on  the  Mohawk.  He  was  a  great  loss, 
for  among  the  Hurons  there  was  no  chief  like  him.  In 
1641  he,  with  only  fifty  warriors,  withstood  and  put  to  flight 
a  body  of  three  hundred  Iroquois,  and  in  the  summer  before 
he  set  out  with  Jogues,  he  gave  a  wonderful  exhibition  of 
daring.  It  was  his  greatest  exploit.  He  happened  to  be  out 
on  Lake  Ontario  with  a  few  braves,  when  they  saw  a  great 
number  of  Iroquois  swooping  down  on  them.  His  com- 
panions wanted  to  take  to  flight,  but  he  cried  out :  "  No,  no, 
let  us  attack  them,"  and  he  made  straight  for  the  Iroquois. 
Naked  as  he  was  he  leaped  into  their  largest  canoe,  and 
with  his  tomahawk  he  smashed  the  head  of  the  first  Indian 
he  met.  Flinging  the  two  others  into  the  lake  he  sprang 
after  them,  upsetting  the  canoe  as  he  left  it  and  swimming 
with  one  one  hand  and  wielding  the  axe  with  the  other,  he 
killed  everyone  he  could  reach.  Even  the  Iroquois  had 
never  seen  anything  like  it,  and  they  turned  their  canoes 
and  fled.  Ahitsasteari  then  got  into  his  own  canoe,  pursued 
the  Indians  whom  he  had  thrown  into  the  lake  and  brought 
them  all  back  as  prisoners  to  his  village. 

He  was  not  then  a  Christian,  but  had  always  been  friendly 
to  the  missionaries,  and  at  last  asked  for  baptism.  It  was 
in  the  winter  of  1641.  "  Two  days  from  now,"  he  said, 
"  I  am  going  out  on  the  war-path.  Tell  me  where  shall  my 
soul  go  if  I  die  without  being  baptized.  If  you  saw  my 
heart  as  clearly  as  does  the  Great  Master  of  life,  I  would 
already  be  ranked  among  the  Christians,  and  the  fear  of 
hell  would  not  be  in  my  soul  when  I  am  face  to  face  with 
death.  I  cannot  baptize  myself.  I  can  only  tell  you  sin- 
cerely what  I  desire.  After  that,  if  I  go  to  hell  you  will 
be  the  cause  of  it.  But  in  any  case  I  will  pray  to  God  and 
perhaps  He  will  have  mercy  on  me,  for  you  say  He  is  better 
than  you." 

239 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

"But  wliat  makes  you  want  to  be  baptized?"  he  was 
asked.  "  Before  you  were  in  the  country,"  he  repHed,  "  I 
saw  myself  escaping  a  thousand  dangers  in  which  my  com- 
panions perished.  I  thought  there  was  some  spirit  that  was 
protecting  me.  I  did  not  attribute  it  to  the  dream  super- 
stition. I  knew  the  stupidity  and  nonsense  of  that;  and 
when  I  heard  you  preach  of  the  greatness  of  God,  and  of 
what  Jesus  Christ  did  when  He  was  on  earth,  I  recognized 
that  it  was  He  who  had  protected  me,  and  I  resolved  to 
honor  Him  all  my  life.  When  going  to  war  I  prayed  to 
Him  morning  and  night,  and  it  is  He  who  has  given  me  all 
my  victories.  I  believe  in  Him  and  ask  for  baptism,  so 
that  after  my  death  He  will  have  pity  on  me." 

Of  course  he  was  baptized.  It  was  then  Holy  Saturday, 
and  after  the  Easter  devotions  he  assembled  his  braves  and 
addressed  them :  "  We  are  Christians.  Let  us  be  of  one 
heart  and  one  soul.  On  our  way  let  us  stop  only  at  the 
lodges  of  Christians,  and  let  us  help  one  another,  so  that 
our  friends  may  see  what  bond  unites  us ;  and  let  us  warn 
our  people  that  if  we  die  we  are  not  to  be  buried  with  pagans. 
If  our  souls  are  separate  so  must  our  bodies  be."  For  an 
Indian  to  make  such  a  declaration  was  to  tear  asunder  the 
strongest  ties  that  bound  parents  and  children  together. 
But  those  savage  converts  did  not  believe  in  half-measures. 
Ahitsasteari  was  in  Father  Jogues'  party  and  had  made  his 
escape.  Seeing,  however,  that  the  priest  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  he  deliberately  returned  and  went  to  a  terrible 
death  on  the  Mohawk. 

But  the  tragic  crisis  was  now  rapidly  coming  on  in 
Huronia.  One  dark  night  at  the  beginning  of  the  spring 
of  1G46,  a  band  of  Iroquois  crept  stealthily  towards  one  of 
the  villages,  and  hiding  themselves  in  the  woods  waited  for 
morning.  At  early  dawn  the  squaws  as  usual  w^ent  out  to 
work  in  the  fields.  No  one  dreamed  of  danger,  when  sud- 
denly a  great  number  of  Iroquois  braves  started,  it  would 
almost  seem,  from  the  ground,  and  dragged  them  to  the 

240 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

canoes  that  were  ii^ar  by.  The  wild  shrieks  of  the  women 
startled  the  village,  and  two  hundred  warriors  hurried  to 
their  rescue.  But  it  was  too  late;  not  one  was  saved.  The 
Iroquois  had  already  disappeared  and  it  was  hopeless  to 
pursue  them.  The  presence  of  canoes  in  this  raid  almost 
certainly  identifies  the  place  as  being  near  Lake  Simcoe. 

Another  disaster  followed  at  the  end  of  summer.  The 
Iroquois  and  Hurons  were  out  for  each  other's  scalps,  and 
met  in  the  woods.  With  something  like  their  old  courage 
the  Hurons  had  beaten  the  enemy  back  and  Ihe  Iroquois 
remained  behind  the  stockade  all  night,  but  when  morning 
came  they  asked  for  a  parley,  and  with  their  usual  skill  per- 
suaded the  Hurons  that  they  had  only  come  with  thoughts  of 
peace.  By  dint  of  presents  which  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the 
chiefs,  and  supplies  of  food  which  whetted  the  appetites  of 
the  braves,  they  convinced  the  Hurons  that  a  mistake  had 
been  made,  and  that  a  council  should  be  called  to  reconcile 
existing  differences.  Meantime  an  Iroquois  who  had  for- 
merly lived  among  the  Hurons  went  around  among  his  old 
friends,  and  skilfully  fomented  the  discontent  which  he 
saw  had  begun  to  develop  among  some  of  the  chiefs  who 
had  not  been  invited  to  the  conference.  He  succeeded  so 
well  that  some  of  them  deserted;  others  followed,  and  then 
when  the  numbers  had  diminisJied  sufficiently,  the  Iroquois 
proceeded  to  murder  those  who  remained. 

This  characteristic  bit  of  trickery  was  a  prelude  to  a 
descent  on  St.  Joseph's,  but  the  Hurons  determined  not  to 
be  taken  by  surprise,  and  resorted  to  more  than  usual  pre- 
cautions. Braves  were  posted  on  look-outs  in  the  trees,  and 
during  the  night  they  made  the  forests  resound  with  shouts 
and  yells  to  warn  the  Iroquois  that  every  one  was  in  readi- 
ness to  receive  them.  It  seemed  like  a  very  silly  proceeding, 
for  as  day  approached  the  shouting  grew  feeble  and  finally 
ceased.  Then  something  happened.  To  the  foot  of  one  of 
the  trees  in  which  two  sentries  had  taken  their  place  crept 
a  party  of  Iroquois.     The  men  above  made  no  sound;  tliey 

241 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

were  asleep.  The  enemy  saw  it,  and  quick  as  a  squirrel 
an  Iroquois  sped  up  the  tree,  split  the  head  of  one  of  the 
sleepers,  and  then  liurled  the  other  to  the  savages  below, 
who  quickly  scalped  him  and  then  vanished  in  the  woods. 

It  was  a  daring  affront  and  had  to  be  avenged,  and  for 
that  purpose  three  Huron  braves  travelled  for  twenty  days 
till  they  reached  the  nearest  Seneca  village,  into  which  they 
crept  under  the  cover  of  the  night.  Every  wigwam  was 
shut,  but  they  cut  their  way  into  one  and  found  themselves 
in  utter  darkness.  Coolly  stirring  the  smouldering  embers 
of  the  fires  they  discovered  where  the  braves  were  sleeping. 
Each  Huron  picked  out  his  man,  killed  and  scalped  him, 
and  then  set  fire  to  the  village.  The  flames  aroused  the  nine 
hundred  warriors  who  were  there,  but  the  Hurons  escaped 
in  the  confusion.  Such  was  the  story  they  told  when  they 
returned  to  St.  Joseph's.  The  Hurons,  however,  were  not 
conspicuous  for  their  devotion  to  truth. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1648,  a  happy  meeting  of  missionaries 
occurred  in  St.  Mary's  on  the  Wye.  Daniel  was  there  with 
the  rest,  and  had  just  finished  his  annual  retreat.  Always 
a  very  fascinating  man,  he  was  particularly  attractive  that 
morning.  Ragueneau,  who  knew  him  well,  says  that 
wherever  he  went  he  carried  every  heart  with  him.  His 
Indians  almost  adored  him.  As  the  little  party  sat  chatting 
over  their  plans  and  prospects  and  telling  of  their  trials 
and  adventures,  Daniel  arose  to  go.  Every  one  implored 
him  to  take  at  least  one  day's  rest,  as  it  would  be  a  long  time 
before  they  would  all  meet  again,  but  no  one  dreamed  how 
long  that  time  would  be.  He  started  off  for  his  beloved 
mission,  and  the  next  morning  he  was  preaching  to  his  In- 
dians who  had  been  looking  eagerly  for  his  return.  In  the 
afternoon  he  heard  the  confessions  of  most  of  them,  and 
the  burden  of  his  advice  was  to  prepare  for  death.  That 
night  the  Iroquois  were  prowling  around  the  village. 

The  sun  was  rising  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  July, 
when  Father  Daniel  began  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 

242 


ANTHONY  DANIEL. 

When  he  had  finished  he  turned  to  speak  to  the  people. 
In  the  midst  of  his  discourse  a  wild  warvvhoop  curdled  the 
blood  of  everyone  present.  "The  Iroquois!  to  arms!" 
The  warriors  hurried  out  to  seize  their  weapons.  The 
women  and  children  sought  protection  in  flight;  but  the 
priest  ran  towards  the  place  where  most  of  the  warriors 
were  gathered,  and  urged  them  to  fight  for  their  lives.  His 
words  won  the  hearts  of  all,  even  of  those  who  had  been 
thus  far  opposed  to  him, and  many  of  them  asked  for  baptism 
then  and  there.  The  crowd  was  so  great  that  there  was  no 
time  for  anything  but  baptism  by  aspersion,  for  the  battle 
was  already  begun.  It  raged  furiously  on  both  sides.  As 
yet  the  Iroquois  had  not  penetrated  the  palisade,  but  they 
were  steadily  gaining  ground.  Daniel  might  have  saved 
himself  by  flight  even  then,  but  he  never  thought  of  it. 
There  were  old  and  sick  people  in  the  cabins  who  could  not 
rise  from  their  mats,  in  spite  of  the  horrible  death  by  fire 
which  was  before  them,  and  he  sought  for  them  anxiously. 
He  baptized  and  absolved  and  exhorted  them,  consoling 
them  over  and  over  again  with  the  words  :  "  Brothers,  to-day 
we  shall  be  in  heaven." 

By  this  time  many  of  the  people,  seeing  that  all  hope  of 
defending  themselves  was  lost,  crowded  into  the  church  as 
the  best  place  to  die.  Daniel  followed  them  and  advised 
them  to  escape  from  the  village,  for  it  yet  seemed  possible. 
"  I  shall  remain  here,"  he  said,  "  while  there  is  a  soul  to 
save.     My  life  is  of  no  account  if  I  can  help  you." 

But  the  Iroquois  were  at  their  heels.  Seeing  them  com- 
ing Daniel  advanced  to  the  chapel  door  and  forbade  them 
to  enter.  For  a  moment  they  paused  in  amazement,  and 
then  a  shower  of  arrows  rained  on  every  part  of  his  body. 
A  musket  shot  rang  out ;  a  bullet  pierced  his  heart  and  he 
fell  with  the  name  of  Jesus  on  his  lips.  Like  wild  beasts 
the  savages  sprang  upon  his  prostrate  form.  They  tore  off 
his  garments  and  perpetrated  every  kind  of  indignity  on  his 
corpse,  each  one  vying  w^ith  the  other  in  rage  against  it. 

243 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Finally,  when  the  flames  from  the  burning  cabins  had  leaped 
over  to  the  church,  which  soon  became  a  blazing  furnace, 
they  tossed  the  body  into  the  fiercest  part  of  the  fire,  and 
there  near  the  altar  the  holocaust  was  completed.  No 
more  glorious  place  could  have  been  chosen  for  the  bones 
of  the  great  missionary  to  return  to  dust.  Not  a  vestige 
of  his  remains  was  ever  found. 

"  He  had  labored  fourteen  years  in  the  Huron  missions," 
says  the  writer  of  the  "  Relation,"  '*  and  had  displayed 
heroic  courage,  indomitable  patience,  unalterable  sweetness, 
and  inexhaustible  love  for  his  people.  His  humility  was 
without  guile,  his  obedience  absolute,  and  his  readiness  to 
suffer  and  to  labor  was  always  to  be  relied  upon.  His  zeal 
continued  till  his  last  breath,  and  though  his  death  was 
sudden  it  did  not  find  him  unprepared.  For  he  always  bore 
his  life  in  his  hands.  He  had  passed  more  than  nine  years  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  country,  in  the  part  of  the  missions  most 
exposed  to  the  enemy,  and  was  ever  awaiting  with  hope 
and  love  the  death  which  God  had  appointed." 

He  was  the  first  Jesuit  to  die  in  the  Huron  missions. 
Visions  of  him  were  reported  to  have  occurred  after  his 
death ;  one  to  all  the  Fathers  who  were  assembled  in  council, 
who  saw  his  sweet  face  looking  down  upon  them,  and  heard 
him  bid  them  to  be  of  good  heart  in  the  work  upon  which 
they  had  entered.  Each  one  felt  as  if  the  light  of  heaven  was 
beaming  down  upon  them.  Another  apparition  occurred 
later,  and  though  Ragueneau  is  cautious  about  vouching  for 
either,  he  adds :  "  it  does  not  matter,  for  the  sweet  memory 
of  this  man  who  has  ravished  our  hearts,  will  always  abide 
with  us." 

How  many  were  murdered  on  that  fatal  4th  of  July, 
1648,  we  do  not  know,  but  the  Iroquois  led  out  of  the 
burning  village  about  seven  hundred  captives,  mostly  women 
and  children.  Those  who  escaped  saw  Tenaustaye  disap- 
pear in  flames,  its  ashes  forming  a  shroud  for  the  bodies  that 
littered  the  streets  of  the  village. 

244 


CHARLES  LALEMANT 


CHAPTER  I. 

Two  Attempts. 

It  is  with  some  reluctance  that  we  present  here  the  life 
of  Charles  Lalemant.  Though  he  was  one  of  the  first  to 
come  out  to  labor  in  the  Huron  missions,  and  was  superior 
until  the  fall  of  Quebec,  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  never 
lived  among  the  Indians.  Indeed,  he  seemed  to  have  mis- 
taken his  vocation  as  regards  that  particular  kind  of  apos- 
tolic work,  but  as  he  was  one  of  the  conspicuous  figures  in 
early  Canadian  history,  and  is  the  hero  of  many  picturesque 
adventures  in  founding  and  sustaining  the  missions,  we  may 
admit  him  into  this  gallery  of  great  men. 

He  was  the  uncle  of  the  martyr,  Gabriel  Lalemant, 
who  died  at  the  side  of  de  Brebeuf,  and  the  brother  of  the 
famous  Jerome  Lalemant,  who  was  for  many  years  superior 
at  Quebec.  There  was  another  brother  named  Pierre,  older 
than  either,  but  who  entered  the  Society  later.  He  never 
came  to  America.  As  far  as  we  can  make  out  now,  they 
were  not  related  to  the  ascetic  writer,  Louis  Lalemant,  the 
well-known  author  of  "  La  Doctrine  Spirituelle."  He  was 
from  Chalons-sur-Marne,  and  all  the  other  Lalemants  be- 
longed to  Paris. 

Charles  Lalemant  was  born  on  November  17,  1587,  and 
entered  the  Novitiate  at  Rouen,  July  29,  1607.  By  some 
unexplainable  error,  which  many  other  writers  have  copied, 
the  erudite  Dr.  O'Callaghan  associates  him  with  La  Saus- 
saye  in  the  expedition  to  Alount  Desert  in  1613.  That 
would  have  been  impossible,  for  he  was  then  only  a  scho- 
lastic, and  could  not  have  been  engaged  in  the  missions. 
Moreover,  Father  Biard,  who  wrote  the  "  Relation  "  of  that 
year,  gives  the  names  of  those  who  accompanied  La  Saus- 
saye,  and  Lalemant  does  not  appear  on  the  list.     After  his 

247 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

novitiate  he  went  to  the  College  of  La  Fleche,  which  Des- 
cartes, who  had  been  a  student  there,  used  to  say  "  was  the 
best  place  to  study  philosophy."  Of  course  it  was  not 
Cartesianism.  Subsequently  we  find  him  as  Professor  at 
Nevers,  the  picturesque  town  which  was  built  like  an  am- 
phitheatre on  the  hill  side,  just  where  the  Nievre  flows 
into  the  Loire,  and  whose  principal  street  long  after  Lale- 
mant's  time  was  spanned  by  a  triumphal  arch  which  others 
besides  Frenchmen  will  be  pleased  to  know  was  erected  to 
honor  the  victor  of  Fontenoy. 

Flenry  IV  wanted  to  have  a  Jesuit  College  in  all  of  the 
principal  cities  of  France,  but  as  Nevers  could  scarcely  have 
entered  into  that  category,  curiosity  is  excited  to  know  how 
that  relatively  inconspicuous  place  could  have  been  so 
favored.  Was  it  a  fancy  of  the  monarch?  Probably  not, 
and  the  explanation  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Duke 
of  Nevers  was  none  other  than  Louis  de  Gonzague,  a  rela- 
tive of  St.  Aloysius.  The  ducal  tomb  is  still  pointed  out  as 
one  of  the  sights  of  the  city,  and  the  guide  books  will  tell 
you  that  "  the  chapel  of  the  former  Jesuit  College,  but  now 
the  Parish  church  of  St.  Pere  is  a  small  but  elegant  struc- 
ture, built  in  exquisite  taste,  with  frescoes  recalling  the 
pretty  oratories  of  Italy."  Very  likely  the  Gonzagas  were 
the  founders  of  the  college  where  Lalemant  first  labored  as  a 
regent. 

After  leaving  Nevers  he  followed  a  four  years'  course  of 
theology  at  Paris.  He  was  given  a  fifth  year  afterwards, 
which  would  imply  that  hopes  were  entertained  of  his  future 
greatness  in  that  particular  study.  He  made  his  Third  Year 
of  Probation  under  the  guidance  of  one  of  the  Society's 
great  ascetic  writers,  Le  Gaudier.  He  then  went  to 
Bourges,  where  Petavius,  not  yet  a  Jesuit,  had  begun  his 
splendid  career  as  a  professor  of  philosophy.  Finally  from 
1622  to  1625  he  was  what  was  called  Principal  of  the  Interns 
at  Clermont ;  a  position  which  was  equivalent  to  that  of  rector 
for  the  students  who  lived  at  the  college.     Such  an  appoint- 

248 


CHARLES    LALEMANT. 

meat  was  of  special  importance,  as  Clermont  was  just  then 
recovering  from  a  catastrophe  that  had  completely  over- 
whelmed it,  and  was  entering  on  a  career  of  triumph  that 
made  it  eclipse  all  other  educational  institutions  of  the 
country.  The  man  who  was  chosen  for  such  a  responsible 
position  as  Principal  of  the  Interns,  had  to  be  intellectually 
and  morally  a  great  personality.  To  appreciate  this  a  sketch 
of  Clermont  may  be  helpful. 

It  was  established  in  1550,  by  the  Bishop  of  Clermont, 
who  had  known  the  Jesuits  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  and 
who,  with  Cardinal  de  Guise,  had  obtained  letters  patent 
from  the  King  of  France  to  found  the  College.  It  was 
begun  on  the  Rue  de  la  Harpe,  near  the  College  de  Justice, 
in  a  house  belonging  to  the  bishop.  The  religious  of  the 
nearby  abbey  allowed  them  the  use  of  the  chapel,  but  in 
1563,  another  place  was  bought  on  the  Rue  St.  Jacques,  in 
an  establishment  known  as  "  I'hotel  de  Langres."  The  col- 
lege, however,  continued  to  be  called  Clermont.  The  names 
of  the  most  illustrious  families  of  France  were  found  on 
its  roster  of  students ;  men  with  world-wide  reputations 
were  among  its  professors,  and  it  attained  such  prominence 
that  the  University  of  Paris,  jealous  of  its  success,  vowed 
its  destruction.  Many  excellent  Catholics  w^ere  bitterly  op- 
posed to  it,  for  the  reason  that  the  University,  which  was 
a  papal  foundation,  had  proclaimed  that  it  was  a  sin  to 
send  students  to  Clermont,  and  as  an  instance  of  this  popular 
prejudice  it  is  narrated  that  when  young  Pierre  Coton  w-as 
pushed  from  the  street  into  its  courtyard  by  some  of  his 
companions,  he  hurried  off  to  confession.  If  he  had  not 
committed  sin  he  had  been  in  danger  of  it.  And  yet  this 
same  Pierre  Coton  became  subsequently  one  of  the  con- 
spicuous Jesuits  of  France,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  one 
of  the  boys  he  ran  up  against  in  that  courtyard  of  Clermont 
was  young  Francis  de  Sales,  who  was  there  at  the  time. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  University  had  the  opportunity 
it  was  looking  for.     On  December  27,  1594,  Jean  Chatel 

249 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

attempted  to  assassinate  the  king.  Pie  had  once  been  a 
student  of  Clermont.  He  had  also  been  at  the  University, 
but  the  latter  fact  did  not  matter.  He  was  tried,  put  to  the 
torture  and  executed  in  two  days,  and  meantime  a  squad  of 
soldiers  had  descended  on  the  college,  seized  all  the  books 
and  papers,  and  imprisoned  the  professors.  One  was  even 
tortured  and  put  to  death,  and  a  decree  was  issued  banishing 
every  Jesuit  from  France.  Of  this  decree  Sismondi  wrote : 
"  One  does  not  know  which  to  regard  as  more  deplorable ; 
the  fanaticism  of  the  assassin,  or  the  cruelty,  precipi- 
tation, and  base  servility  of  the  chief  magistracy  of 
the  realm,  which  was  not  satisfied  with  inflicting 
atrocious  torments  on  the  young  criminal,  but  in  punishing 
the  innocent  without  taking  time  to  investigate  the  truth, 
and  in  throwing  wholesale  into  infamous  exile  within  forty- 
eight  hours,  a  great  religious  society  which  had  not  been 
heard  or  listened  to,  on  account  of  an  attempt  at  regicide  in 
which  none  of  them  had  any  part." 

Meantime  the  college  had  been  looted,  and  its  splendid 
library  of  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  volumes  seized  and 
scattered.  To  inspire  public  detestation  of  the  deed.  Chatel's 
house  was  razed  to  the  ground,  and  on  its  site  a  pyramid 
was  built  displaying  defamatory  inscriptions  to  perpetuate 
the  ignominy  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  had  participated 
in  the  crime.  Finally,  to  emulate  what  was  being  done  in 
England  and  Ireland,  a  decree  was  issued  forbidding  parents 
to  send  their  sons  to  be  educated  by  Jesuit  teachers  outside 
of  France,  and  ordering  them  under  pain  of  fines  and  con- 
fiscation of  goods  to  recall  those  who  had  been  already  sent. 

As  soon  as  Plenry  was  the  acknowledged  King  of  France, 
he  recalled  the  Jesuits,  reminding  Queen  Elizabeth  who 
advised  him  against  it,  that  she  had  a  kingdom  of  her  own 
to  rule.  He  restored  all  the  property  rights  that  had  been 
forfeited,  but  on  account  of  the  establishment  of  La  Fleche, 
in  which  he  was  then  engrossed,  Clermont's  opening  was 
delayed.     Indeed  it  did  not  take  place  until  February  20, 

250 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

1618,  under  Louis  XliL  He,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
university,  and  to  give  splendor  to  the  event  sent  royal  com- 
missioners who,  in  the  presence  of  the  Papal  Nuncio,  the 
Cardinal  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  and  many  other  illustrious 
prelates,  empowered  the  institution  to  again  receive 
pupils.  The  college  was  once  more  on  its  feet  after  lying- 
in  the  dust  for  twenty-two  years.  Lalemant  was  one  of 
those  who  were  chosen  to  revive  its  ancient  glory.  Four 
years  after  it  was  opened  he  was  the  acting  rector  of  its 
principal  department. 

Just  at  that  time  there  was  great  excitement  about  the, 
Canadian  missions.  Champlain  had  established  Quebec,  and 
Biard  and  Masse,  after  their  romantic  wanderings  over  sea 
and  land,  had  reached  France  and  told  the  story  of  their 
expulsion  from  Mount  Desert.  Missionaries  were  needed 
on  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  Champlain  asked  for  the  Jesuits. 
But  the  strong  Calvinistic  element  in  the  Company  of 
Traders  at  Quebec  made  the  offer  unacceptable,  and  the 
Recollects  undertook  the  work.  Those  religious  were  then 
very  popular  in  France.  They  were  Franciscans  of  the 
Strict  Observance,  a  name  given  to  them  in  Spain  in  the 
year  1484  by  the  Count  of  Belalcazar.  In  1502,  under  the 
direction  of  Martiale  Bouliers,  they  invited  all  the  fervent 
members  of  the  Franciscan  Rule  to  join  them,  and  they 
then  adopted  the  name  of  "  Fratres  Recollecti."  A  Bull  of 
Julius  n  approved  of  that  designation,  but  in  1525  the 
Italian  Franciscans,  while  accepting  the  strict  observance 
called  themselves  the  Reformed,  while  those  in  Spain  aban- 
doned the  name  Recollect  and  were  known  as  the  Discalced. 
In  1595  the  strict  French  Franciscans  assumed  the  name 
Recollect,  and  in  1597,  the  Duke  of  Nevers,  Louis  de  Gon- 
zague,  invited  them  to  his  city.  In  the  same  year  Sixtus  V 
gave  the  name  Recollect  exclusively  to  the  French  branch, 
but  later  on  Clement  VIII  brought  back  the  Italian  and 
Spanish  friars  to  their  former  alliance  with  the  French. 
They  came  to  Paris  in  1603,  and  Henry  IV,  who  was  their 

251 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

zealous  protector  and  visited  them  often,  gave  them  an  estab- 
lishment on  the  Faubourg  St.  Martin. 

With  the  approval  of  the  Pope  and  the  King,  and  assured 
of  aid  by  the  Company  of  Traders,  four  Recollects  started 
for  America  on  April  24,  1G15.  They  were  Fathers  Jamay, 
d'Olbeau,  Le  Caron,  and  Brother  Pacificus.  Others  fol- 
lowed and  they  built  a  convent  on  the  River  St.  Charles, 
which  they  called  Notre  Dame  des  Anges,  By  1624  five 
Recollect  missions  had  been  established,  viz. :  at  Tadoussac, 
Quebec  and  Three  Rivers,  while  Carhagoua  is  said  to  have 
been  begun  among  the  Hurons,  and  another  among  the  Nip- 
pissings.  There  had  been  one  on  the  St.  John's  River  in 
1619,  but  it  was  abandoned  in  1624, 

In  spite  of  all  these  efforts,  however,  nothing  had  been 
accomplished.  Nothwithstanding  the  solemn  engagement 
of  the  trading  company  to  assist  the  missionaries,  they  not 
only  gave  no  help  but  thwarted  every  effort  of  the  friars 
to  gather  the  Indians  together.  "If  you  put  them  in  vil- 
lages we  will  drive  them  out  with  clubs ;  we  want  them  to 
be  hunters,"  was  all  the  satisfaction  received  when  these 
devoted  men  saw  all  their  labor  thus  frustrated.  Finding 
themselves  powerless,  they  appealed  to  the  Jesuits  to  come 
to  their  aid. 

The  appeal  was  heeded,  but  although  the  difficulty  with 
the  Trading  Company  was  diminished  by  eliminating  to  a 
great  extent  the  Huguenot  influence  that  dictated  its  policy, 
trouble  arose  with  the  Recollects  themselves.  As  the  Com- 
pany had  guaranteed  the  support  of  six  of  the  missionaries, 
the  Jesuits  asked  that  two  of  the  allotted  subsidies  should 
be  assigned  to  them,  but  the  Friars  resented  the  request,  and 
the  matter  w^as  dropped.  Later,  as  Le  Clercq  says  :  "Charity 
scattered  the  gathering  clouds."  However,  some  over- 
zealous  friends  assured  the  Recollects  that  now  that  the 
Jesuits  were  in  possession,  there  would  be  no  room  for  any 
one  else  in  the  missions.  A  great  deal  of  acrimonious  con- 
tention on  this  topic  followed,  but  nevertheless,  subsequently, 

252 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

while  the  storm  was  rag-ing-,  Fathers  Lalemant.  Masse, 
and  de  Brebeuf  with  the  Coadjutor  Brothers,  Buret  and 
Charton,  sailed  out  of  Dieppe  on  April  24,  1625,  and  on 
June  15  reached  Quebec. 

The  difficulty  they  met  with  on  arriving  has  been  already 
told  in  the  sketch  of  de  Brebeuf,  and  the  kindness  of  the 
Friars  in  sheltering  them  has  been  recorded.  But,  of  course, 
a  separate  establishment  had  to  be  sought  for  the  new- 
comers, and  when  the  opposition  of  de  Caen  had  been 
overcome,  the  Due  de  Ventadour,  who  had  the  controlling 
influence  in  the  Company,  gave  them  a  tract  of  territory 
lying  between  Beauport  River  and  the  Creek  St.  Michel. 
The  deed  was  signed  and  the  seal  attached  on  March  10, 
1626,  ceding  to  the  Jesuits  in  perpetuity  a  stretch  of  land 
one  league  in  length  and  four  in  depth,  to  serve  as  a  source 
of  revenue  for  the  missions.  It  was  only  a  wilderness,  but 
they  immediately  set  about  cultivating  it  in  view  of  the 
future,  for  except  the  two  communities  and  a  few  families 
no  one  thought  of  the  soil  as  a  means  of  support.  Every 
one  was  looking  for  furs.  The  ships  from  Europe  would 
supply  them  with  provisions. 

That  land  has  long  since  passed  to  others.  It  is  the 
old  story  of  state  appropriation.  The  original  proprietors 
kept  it  only  forty  years,  for  when  the  enterprising 
Intendant  Talon  arrived,  his  eye  fell  upon  it  and  his  hand 
seized  it.  He  took  it,  he  said,  for  the  benefit  of  the  crown, 
and  incidentally  for  himself,  for  he  divided  it  up  into  the 
Bourg  Talon,  the  Bourg  Royal,  and  the  Bourg-la-Reine, 
settling  colonists  first  on  the  Bourg  Talon  and  letting  the 
other  two  sections  develop  themselves.  No  compensation 
was  offered,  and  beyond  a  mild  protest  no  opposition  was 
made. 

When  Lalemant  accepted  the  grant,  of  course,  he  never 
dreamed  that  such  would  be  the  fate  of  the  establishment 
which  he  began  there  in  1626,  and  possibly  if  he  had  fore- 
seen the  heart  burnings  that  ensued  because  he  dedicated 

253 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 

his  little  chapel  to  the  Notre  Dame  des  Anges,  he  would 
have  chosen  another  title.  Unfortunately  it  was  the  same 
name  as  that  given  by  the  Recollects  to  their  convent,  and 
there  has  been  much  writing  since  then  as  to  who  could 
claim  priority  in  chosing  this  particular  designation.  At 
this  distance  it  would  seem  as  if  Our  Lady  would  have 
been  more  pleased  if  these  holy  men  had  concerned  them- 
selves less  with  such  trifles. 

As  the  ships  arrived  only  once  a  year  and  sometimes 
less  frequently,  Lalemant  informed  his  superiors  in  France 
that  he  had  plenty  of  time  to  write,  and  accordingly,  in  a 
letter,  dated  August  1,  1626,  he  gives  his  impressions  of 
America.  It  appeared  first  in  the  "  Mercure  Frangais." 
The  Recollect  Le  Clercq  questions  its  authenticity,  but  un- 
reasonably so.  Rochemonteix  has  a  lengthy  disquisition 
about  the  matter,  which  one  may  read  if  he  so  fancies. 
Lalemant  had  already  written  another  account  for  1625, 
but  it  has  been  lost. 

He  begins  with  some  geographical  data,  and  then  dis- 
cusses the  climate.  "  The  winters  are  very  long,"  he  says, 
"  but  the  excellence  of  the  crops  is  quite  remarkable." 
Very  little  land  is  under  cultivation,  though  he  had  been  told 
that  there  are  Indians  farther  up  who  have  great  fortified 
villages  and  who  till  the  soil  with  some  appearance  of 
skill,  though  their  knowledge  of  farming  does  not  appear 
to  have  helped  their  morals.  Speaking  of  the  difficulties 
in  navigating  the  rivers,  he  refers  to  the  death  of  the 
Recollect  Father  Viel,  which  had  just  occurred,  though 
he  does  not  tell  us  that  he  had  been  killed  by  the  Indians. 
Possibly  definite  information  had  not  yet  arrived,  or  he 
was  not  sure  of  it.  He  merely  says  that  in  passing  the  last 
Sault,  he  was  drowned. 

He  is  troubled  about  the  voyageurs  who  live  among 
the  savages.  As  it  was  impossible  for  these  adventurers 
to  make  their  Easter  duty,  he  is  anxious  to  know  if  one 
is   permitted    to   engage   in   that   kind   of   business.       He 

254 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

proposes  it  as  a  case  of  conscience  to  be  decided  in 
France.  With  regard  to  the  Indians  themselves  he  finds 
that  they  are  shameless  and  persistent  beggars.  They  never 
come  near  you  except  to  get  something  to  eat,  and  if  you 
refuse  them  they  go  away  angry.  They  are  excessively 
haughty,  and  consider  themselves  vastly  superior  to  the 
whites.  They  are  polygamists,  and  very  immoral.  They 
are  not  only  voracious  gluttons,  but  are  at  times  cannibals ; 
they  are  filthy  in  the  extreme,  and  are  covered  with 
vermin.  They  kill  their  aged  or  helpless  parents,  and 
expect  to  be  treated  in  the  same  manner  by  their  own 
offspring.  They  never  fight  fair,  but  creep  up  behind 
their  enemies.  If  they  have  a  spite  against  a  Frenchman, 
they  will  wreak  their  vengeance  on  the  first  pale-face  they 
meet.  They  have  a  vague  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  and 
believe  that  the  soul  lives  after  death,  but  have  a  fancy 
that  the  pots  and  kettles  which  they  place  in  the  grave, 
have  spirits  which  go  with  the  departed.  There  are  medi- 
cine men  among  them  who  profess  to  hold  converse  w^ith 
the  devil  and  to  cure  every  ill.  The  savages  in  the  vicinity 
of  Quebec  are  nomads.  With  regard  to  their  dress,  he 
says,  "  they  wear  their  furs  as  an  ecclesiastic  wears  a  cope." 
In  their  apparel  they  are  decent,  and  their  bodies  are  painted 
in  the  most  grotesque  fashions,  according  to  the  fancy  of 
their  women,  whose  pleasure  it  is  to  decorate  their  lords 
and  masters.  He  is  under  the  impression  that  the  dark 
color  of  their  skins  is  due  more  to  bear  and  elk  grease  than 
to  nature ;  an  opinion  shared  by  others.  Their  riches  are 
the  skins  of  animals,  chiefly  beavers ;  the  annual  exporta- 
tion of  this  commodity  running  up  in  one  year  to  32,000 ; 
and  as  each  skin  is  worth  a  pistole,  the  trafific  evidently  is 
very  lucrative.  Of  course  the  outlay  is  great,  for  the 
Company  employs  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  whose 
wages  amount  on  the  average  to  one  hundred  and  six  livres ; 
Each  skin  is  worth  ten  livres,  on  wdiich  the  Company  realized 
about  forty  per  cent.     Formerly  there  were  as  many  as 

255 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

twenty  vessels  at  one  time  at  Tadoussac,  but  the  Company's 
monopoly  has  put  an  end  to  that.  Now  there  are  only  two 
vessels  a  year,  and  they  arrive  about  the  beginning  of  June. 
They  are  loaded  with  all  sorts  of  merchandise  on  the  out 
voyage,  and  return  packed  with  furs. 

On  the  first  of  June,  the  cross  was  planted  on  the  grounds 
where  the  new  residence  was  to  be  built.  The  Recollects 
and  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  colonists  took  part  in 
the  ceremony,  and  helped  a  little  in  clearing  the  ground. 
Meantime,  Lalemant  had  been  going  every  Sunday  to 
Quebec,  and  had  so  dispelled  the  prejudices  against  the 
Jesuits  that  the  obnoxious  pamphlet  which  had  been  circu- 
lated about  them  was  publicly  burned.  He  even  ingratiated 
himself  to  such  an  extent  with  de  Caen,  the  business  manager 
of  the  Company,  as  to  get  him  to  send  a  number  of  carpen- 
ters to  help  to  build  the  new  house,  which,  for  want  of  hands, 
was  going  on  very  slowly.  In  the  letter  which  records  all 
this,  one  cannot  help  noticing  the  somewhat  boyish  exulta- 
tion with  which  Lalemant  tells  how  the  Indian  interpreter 
or  trucheuient  was  kinder  to  him  than  to  any  one  else.  It 
did  not  result,  however,  in  his  acquiring  much  knowledge 
of  the  language. 

Work  went  on  more  expeditiously  when,  later  on,  Fathers 
de  None  and  Noyrot  arrived  with  twenty  workmen.  In  a 
short  time  they  made  more  improvements  than  the  colony 
had  seen  since  the  first  white  man  landed.  "  If,"  said 
Champlain,  "  that  had  been  done  for  the  last  twenty-three 
or  twenty-four  years,  we  should  have  many  dwellings  and 
houses,  and  not  be  in  the  constant  terror  and  fear  that  now 
beset  us."  But  the  object  lesson  had  no  effect  on  the  ob- 
stinate Trading  Company.  It  was  impossible  to  get  food 
to  support  the  laborers,  and  hence  Lalemant  sent  Noyrot 
back  again  to  Europe  to  complain. 

Noyrot  was  a  timid,  slow-going  man,  but  once  in  France 
he  worked  with  a  feverish  activity,  going  everywhere  night 
and  day,  till  he  at  last  secured  an  audience  with  Richelieu 

256 


CAKTIEK  MONUMENT, 


QUEBEC. 
(Site   of   First  Jesuit 


Residence.) 


CHARLES    LALEMANT. 

himself.  The  result  was  that  the  cardinal  dissolved  the 
old  Company,  and  established  a  new  one,  known  as  the 
Society  of  the  One  Hundred  Associates,  whose  member- 
ship should  be  exclusively  French  and  Catholic ;  and  should 
be  obligated  first — to  send  over  two  hundred  colonists  in 
1638.  and  four  thousand  within  fifteen  years ;  secondly — to 
support  three  priests  at  their  various  posts  for  fifteen  years, 
and  thirdly — to  make  all  converted  Indians  ipso  facto 
French  subjects;  a  concession  to  the  inferior  races,  which,  it 
is  claimed,  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  colonization. 

Unfortunately,  on  the  ship  with  Noyrot  were  Guillaume 
de  Caen  and  the  Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  de  la  Ralde.  They 
suspected  the  purpose  of  the  priest's  sudden  return  to 
France,  and  when  they  succeeded  in  ascertaining  it,  they 
determined  to  thwart  him  by  starving  the  colony,  and  for 
that  purpose  actually  held  up  at  Harfieur  the  supply  of  pro- 
visions that  were  sent  over  to  the  Jesuit  establishment. 
These  provisions  were  anxiously  expected  at  Quebec,  and 
when  they  did  not  arrive,  Lalemant  took  his  twenty  laborers, 
put  them  on  board  the  first  ship  he  could  get,  and  started 
for  France,  arriving  there  in  November,  1627.  It  was  not 
until  May  8  of  the  following  year,  that  the  Company  of 
the  One  Hundred  Associates  was  able  to  send  out  its  first 
ships.  On  one  of  them  was  the  indefatigable  Lalemant  and 
another  Jesuit,  Francis  Ragueneau,  the  brother  of  Paul 
Ragueneau.  Francis  never  reached  the  shores  of  the  New 
World,  for  he  and  Lalemant  were  captured  by  Kirke  in  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  were  sent  as  prisoners  to  England, 
and  later  on  to  Belgium.  They  were  subsequently  liberated 
and  restored  to  France,  at  the  request  of  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria,  the  wife  of  Charles  I  of  England.  About  this 
English  imprisonment  we  have  no  details. 


257 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Shipwrecks. 

Lalemant  would  not  admit  defeat,  and  on  June  16,  1629, 
he  again  endeavored  to  cross  the  Atlantic.  He  and 
Father  Noyrot  had  succeeded  in  provisioning  a  ship  and 
they  joined  the  expedition  of  Captain  Daniel.  Their  vessel 
went  to  pieces  on  the  rocks  of  Cape  Breton.  We  find  no 
record  of  this  mishap  in  the  "  Relation,"  but  fortunately 
Champlain  has  embodied  in  the  account  of  his  Voyages,  a 
letter  of  Lalemant,  which  gives  us  all  the  details,  and 
describes  a  scene  which  is,  perhaps,  the  most  romantic  in 
the  missionary's  career.  Champlain  prefaces  it  by  the  fol- 
lowing note : 

"  After  having  sojourned  two  days  at  Dieppe,  I  jour- 
neyed to  Rouen,  where  I  remained  two  days  more.  There 
I  learned  that  the  ship  of  the  Reverend  Fathers  Lalemant 
and  Noyrot  had  been  wrecked  on  the  Canseau  Islands.  I 
was  shown  a  letter  from  the  Reverend  Father  Lalemant, 
Superior  of  the  Missions  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  in  New 
France,  sent  from  Bordeaux  to  the  Reverend  Father  Su- 
perior of  the  Jesuit  College  at  Paris,  and  dated  November 
22,  1629.  It  runs  as  follows: 
"Reverend  Father,  P.C. 

''  Castigans  castigavit  me  Dominns  et  morti  non  tradidit 
me;  a  chastisement  which  I  feel  all  the  more  keenly,  as  be- 
sides the  loss  of  our  ship,  death  has  taken  from  us  Father 
Noyrot  and  Brother  Louis,  both  of  whom  I  think  would 
have  been  of  the  greatest  service  in  our  seminary.  But 
nevertheless,  since  God  has  so  ordained,  we  must  seek  our 
consolation  in  His  holy  will.  Without  that  there  never 
was  a  peaceful  or  contented  mind;  and  I  feel  sure  that  ex- 
perience will  have  shown  your  Reverence  that  the  bitterness 

258 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

of  grief  tempered  with  the  sweetness  of  doing  the  will  of 
God,  to  whom  the  soul  is  inseparably  attached,  loses  either 
all  or  the  greater  part  of  its  sting.  Yet,  if  we  still  sigh 
over  our  sufferings,  either  past  or  present,  it  only  prompts 
us  to  long  the  more  for  heaven,  and  to  deserve  to  grow 
more  perfect  in  that  conformity  in  which  our  soul  has 
resolved  to  remain  till  life  draws  to  its  close. 

"  Of  the  four  of  us  who  were  on  the  ship,  God  has  made 
an  equal  division.  He  has  taken  two  and  left  two.  These 
two  good  Religious  who  were  well  prepared  and  resigned 
to  die,  will  serve  as  victims  to  appease  the  wrath  of  God, 
who  is  justly  irritated  against  us  for  our  shortcomings, 
and  will  make  His  goodness  favorable  to  us  henceforward 
for  the  success  of  our  enterprises. 

"  Our  wreck  was  caused  by  a  fierce  squall  from  the 
southeast,  which  arose  when  we  were  off  shore.  It  was  so 
violent  that  the  care  and  promptness  of  our  pilot  were 
of  no  avail.  We  offered  our  prayers  and  vows  to  avoid  the 
disaster,  but  there  was  no  help  for  us ;  we  were  going  to  be 
dashed  against  the  rocks.  It  was  nine  o'clock  at  night  on 
St.  Bartholomew's  day,  twenty-six  days  after  we  had  set 
sail.  Only  ten  of  the  twenty-four  on  board  escaped. 
Father  Noyrot's  two  nephews  perished  with  him.  We  buried 
them  and  the  Brother.     The  other  bodies  we  never  found. 

"  It  would  be  very  hard  to  explain  how  Father  Vieuxpont 
and  I  escaped.  God  alone  knows.  It  was  in  accordance 
with  His  Providence,  for  I  felt  so  convinced  that  it  was 
impossible  to  be  saved,  that  I  had  resolved  to  stay  in  the 
cabin  with  Brother  Louis  to  prepare  for  death,  which  seemed 
to  be  distant  only  about  as  long  as  one  would  take  to  say 
three  misereres.  Suddenly  I  heard  some  one  calling  me 
on  deck.  I  imagined  it  was  about  a  means  of  safety,  and 
I  went  up  and  found  it  was  Father  Noyrot  asking  for  a 
second  absolution.  I  gave  it  to  him  and  then  we  all  sang 
the  Salve  Regina.  I  could  not  get  back  to  the  cabin  for 
the  sea  was  high  and  the  gale  furious;     Then,  in  less  than 

259 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

no  time,  the  side  towards  the  shore  began  to  go  to  pieces 
on  the  rocks.  I  was  standing  near  Father  Noyrot  when 
a  wave  struck  our  part  of  the  ship  with  such  violence  that 
it  shattered  everything  and  tore  Father  Noyrot  away 
from  my  grasp.  As  he  disappeared,  I  heard  him  say :  '  In 
mamts  tuas,  Douiinc'  I  was  caught  by  four  planks,  two 
of  which  struck  me  violentlv  in  the  chest,  while  the  other 
two  fell  on  my  back  with  such  force  that  I  thought  I  should 
die  in  that  way  before  being  swallowed  up  by  the  waves. 
Then  another  wave  came  down  on  me,  and  carried  me  off 
the  ship  minus  my  hat  and  slippers.  The  ship  keeled  over 
and  we  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves,  and  they  were 
pitiless.  They  rose  I  don't  know  how  many  cubits  above 
us,  and  then  crashed  down  on  our  heads.  After  keeping 
myself  afloat  a  long  time  in  the  dark,  I  began  to  peer  around 
and  made  out  a  circle  of  pine  trees,  on  the  shore  of  what 
seemed  to  be  a  bay.  Then  I  discovered  some  people 
not  far  away  shouting  to  me  to  do  all  I  could  to  get  near 
them.  But  I  was  so  bruised  with  the  wreckage  of  the 
vessel,  that  I  felt  unable  to  make  any  effort.  Soon,  how- 
ever, by  means  of  the  planks  to  which  I  was  clinging, 
I  reached  them,  and  with  some  help  got  up  on  the  main 
mast,  which  was  still  fast  to  the  ship.  I  was  not  long  there, 
for  when  we  got  near  the  shore  some  of  our  sailors  swam 
out  to  us,  and  with  their  aid  we  joined  the  others  wdio  had 
landed.  I  was  hatless  and  shoeless ;  my  soutane  and  clothes 
were  in  rags,  and  I  had  been  so  battered  that  I  could  not 
stand,  and  had  to  be  carried  to  the  woods  nearby.  I  had 
received  two  heavy  blows  on  the  legs,  especially  the  right 
one,  which  is  still  sore.  My  hands  were  split  by  something 
I  had  struck,  my  hip  was  skinned,  and  my  chest  felt  as  if 
it  were  crushed  in. 

"  Seven  of  us  reached  the  woods,  but  the  place  was  as 
reeking  wet  as  ourselves,  though  we  had  just  come  out  of  the 
sea.  The  first  thing  we  did  was  to  fall  on  our  knees  to 
thank  God  for  saving  us,  and  then  to  pray  for  those  who 

260 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

were  drowned.  To  keep  warm  we  lay  down  close  to  each 
other,  but  the  ground  was  so  soaked  with  the  rain  of  the 
day  before,  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  our  getting 
dry.  Thus  we  passed  the  night,  but  Father  Vieuxpont,  who, 
thank  God,  had  not  been  injured,  slept  soundly. 

"  Next  morning,  at  day  break,  we  went  to  reconnoitre. 
We  found  we  were  on  an  island  from  which  it  was  easy 
to  reach  the  mainland.  On  the  shore  there  was  a  great 
number  of  articles,  which  had  been  cast  up  by  the  sea.  I 
secured  two  slippers,  a  biretta,  a  cap,  a  soutane  and  several 
other  necessary  things.  We  were  especially  grateful  to 
God  for  sending  us  food ;  for  there  were  five  barrels  of  wine, 
ten  pieces  of  pork,  casks  of  oil,  cakes  of  cheese,  and  an  arque- 
bus and  powder,  which  came  in  handy  for  making  a  fire.  It 
was  St.  Louis's  Day,  and  when  we  had  gathered  up  every- 
thing, we  set  about  making  a  boat  from  the  debris  of  the 
ship,  so  as  to  go  out  and  hunt  for  some  fishermen  who 
might  be  on  the  coast.  We  worked  as  well  as  we  could  with 
the  poor  tools  at  hand,  and  on  the  fourth  day  the  boat  was 
nearly  finished,  when  the  look-out  announced  a  vessel 
making  in  our  direction.  One  of  the  sailors  went  to 
a  point  which  the  vessel  had  to  pass,  to  hail  the  vessel. 
They  took  him  aboard,  and  when  the  captain  heard  of  our 
mishap,  he  got  into  his  shallop  and  came  ashore  to  encourage 
us.  That  night  we  felt  safe,  for  we  slept  on  board 
his  boat.  It  was  a  Basque  fishing  smack,  and  was  coasting 
around  three  or  four  miles  from  where  we  struck.  We 
remained  on  that  place  during  the  month  of  August  and 
all  of  September. 

"  On  the  first  of  October,  an  Indian  appeared  and  told 
the  captain  that  if  he  did  not  leave  soon  he  would  be  cap- 
tured by  the  English.  That  was  sufficient,  and  orders  were 
given  to  hoist  sail,  but  w^e  were  also  told  that  Captain 
Daniel  w^as  twenty-five  leagues  away,  and  had  built  a 
fort  and  was  going  to  leave  one  of  our  Fathers  there.  As 
Father  Vieuxpont  asked  to  be  allowed  to  go  with  the  Indian, 

261 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

who  seemed  to  be  one  of  the  best  men  you  could  meet,  I 
said :  '  It  is  an  excellent  chance.  Father  Vimont  will  be 
glad  to  have  you  as  a  companion.  The  Indian  will  lead 
you  there,  and  if  you  want  to  remain  some  months  with 
the  savages  to  learn  their  language,  you  may.  Both  you 
and  Father  Vimont  will  be  happy.' 

**  The  good  Father  was  delighted  with  the  chance  that  so 
unexpectedly  presented  itself,  and  he  got  into  the  canoe  with 
the  guide.  I  gave  him  everything  we  had  saved,  except 
the  large  painting,  which  the  Captain  would  not  give  up. 
I  intended  to  compel  him  to  do  so  later,  if  another  misfor- 
tune had  not  overtaken  us.  We  set  sail  on  October  6th, 
and  after  encountering  the  most  furious  storms  that  I  have 
ever  seen,  we  arrived  after  a  voyage  of  forty  days,  at  a 
port  near  San  Sebastian.  But  there  we  were  shipwrecked 
again.  Our  vessel  was  shattered  to  splinters,  and  the  whole 
cargo  of  cod  lost.  I  was  able  to  get  into  a  small  boat,  and 
having  obtained  a  pair  of  slippers  and  a  night  cap,  presented 
myself  in  that  dress  to  our  Fathers  at  San  Sebastian.  I 
left  there  eight  days  ago,  and  reached  Bordeac,  near  Bor- 
deaux, on  the  20th  of  this  month.  Such  is  the  result  of  our 
expedition,  from  which  your  Reverence  may  judge  how 
much  I  am  indebted  to  Almighty  God." 

This  disaster  at  Canso,  was  one  of  the  incidents  of  the 
struggle  between  the  French  and  English  for  the  control 
of  Canada.  The  English  prevailed  for  a  time,  and  appar- 
ently the  work  of  evangelizing  the  Indians  was  now  at  an 
end.  Hence  we  find  Lalemant  appointed  to  the  rectorship 
of  the  college  of  Eu,  a  little  town  on  the  Bresle,  about 
twenty-nine  kilometres  from  Dieppe.  There  was  nothing 
remarkable  about  the  place  except,  perhaps,  that  the  patron 
of  the  parish  church  was  St.  Lawrence  of  Dublin,  who  died 
there  in  1181.  We  know  it  in  modern  times  because  of  the 
great  Chateau  d'Eu,  which  was  made  over  by  the  Comte  de 
Paris  to  the  French  Government.  The  college  to  which 
Lalemant  was  assigned  had  been  founded  by  the  Duke  de 

263 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

Guise  in  1582.  Its  chapel,  which  is  still  pointed  out  as 
one  of  the  sights  of  the  city,  was  built  a  few  years  after 
Lalemant  started  on  his  fourth  journey  to  America.  He 
was  at  Rouen  when  the  news  came  of  the  restoration  of 
Quebec  to  the  French,  and  he  appears  to  have  known  of  it 
before  it  really  took  place,  for  he  wrote  to  the  Provincial 
in  December,  1631,  informing  him  of  what  was  to  be 
done,  and  entreating  him  to  have  missionaries  ready  to  start 
as  soon  as  they  were  asked  for.  Possibly  the  request  was 
superfluous,  for  Masses  were  being  offered  constantly  by 
the  Fathers,  and  communions  were  being  made  by  the  Ur- 
sulines  and  Carmelites  for  the  reinauguration  of  the  work 
of  evangelizing  the  savages. 

On  April  18,  1632,  Fathers  Le  Jeune  and  de  Noue  were  on 
board  one  of  Emery  de  Caen's  ships  at  Harfleur,  ready  to 
sail.  There  was  no  Recollect  Friar  with  them  this  time, 
and  that  has  been  ascribed  to  the  machinations  of  the 
Jesuits ;  Father  Lalemant  being  regarded  as  the  chief  of- 
fender. But  the  Friars  themselves  did  not  appear  to 
thin^  50,  and  only  complained  that  the  notice  to  depart  was 
given  to  them  too  late,  and  that  they  were  not  ready. 
Faillon,  who  cannot  be  accused  of  fondness  for  the  Society, 
declares  the  accusation  of  exclusion  to  be  without  foundation. 
It  was  simply  the  desire  of  Richelieu,  and  that  was  all  there 
was  to  it.  The  Friars  made  a  formal  request  subsequently, 
but  without  success  which  was  all  the  more  galling,  as  their 
friend.  Governor  de  Lauson,  kept  putting  them  off  from 
year  to  year  with  excuses  that  were  more  or  less  futile. 
The  Recollect,  Le  Tac,  says:  "  the  Jesuits,  mindful  of  their 
old  friendship  for  us,  wanted  the  Recollects,"  and  Le  Clercq 
admits,  though  somewhat  unwillingly,  that  Lalemant  really 
desired  to  have  the  friars  as  co-workers,  but  both  writers 
subsequently  modified  their  admission,  and  accused  Lale- 
mant of  double  dealing  and  bad  faith.  There  are  two 
letters  of  Lalemant  to  prove  the  contrary,  one  to  the  Recol- 
lect Guardian  at  Paris,  and  the  other  to  the  Secretary  of 

263 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  Recollect  Provincial,  but  his  assailants  found  something 
between  the  lines  which  is  not  in  the  written  text.  It  is 
one  of  those  ugly  clouds  which  have  so  often  obscured  the 
glory  of  good  works. 

In  the  following  year,  when  de  Brebeuf  and  Masse  were 
setting  out  with  Champlain,  Lalemant  asked  to  join  them. 
His  superiors  did  not  think  they  could  spare  him,  and  he 
therefore  did  not  leave  France  until  1634,  when  we  find  him 
with  Le  Jeune  at  his  old  place  of  Notre  Dame  des  Anges, 
but  apparently  not  with  the  same  energy  as  in  the  early 
days.  Possibly  the  prisons  of  England  and  Belgium,  the 
storm  beaten  rocks  of  Canso  and  San  Sebastian,  and  the 
seven  journeys  he  had  made  across  the  Atlantic,  one  of  which 
was  enough  to  sap  the  strength  of  the  most  vigorous,  had 
weakened  him  physically.  He  had  attempted,  like  Le  Jeune, 
to  winter  with  the  Algonquins,  but  his  party  came  back  to 
civilization  after  ten  days  to  save  themselves  from  starva- 
tion, and  ever  after  that  Lalemant  had  no  craving  for  life 
in  the  wigwam.  The  filth  and  indecencies  of  the  Indians 
filled  him  with  loathing,  nor  did  he  apply  himself  with  ex- 
cessive zeal  to  learn  their  language.  Indeed,  when  there 
w-as  question  of  founding  a  new  mission  at  Three  Rivers, 
and  Lalemant  was  thought  of  for  the  work,  he  professed  his 
willingness  to  go,  but  his  superior  went  instead.  Thus  a 
little  shadow  crosses  the  heroism  in  this  great  man's  life, 
but  weak  mortals  will  not  condemn  him. 

Champlain  had  made  a  vow  when  leaving  Quebec,  to 
build  a  church  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  if  the  colony 
was  ever  restored.  When  he  found  himself  on  the  great 
Rock  once  again,  he  set  to  work  immediately  to  fulfil  his 
vow.  It  was  a  slight  change  in  his  plans,  for  in  the  begin- 
ning he  had  dreamed  of  a  splendid  basilica  under  the  invoca- 
tion of  the  Holy  Redeemer,  but  possibly  he  fancied  that 
would  be  built  later.  At  all  events  he  erected  the  chapel 
of  Notre  Dame  de  Recouvrance,  which  was  practically  the 
first  parish  church  of  Quebec.     Its  site  was  near  that  of  the 

264 


CHARLES    LALEMANT. 

present  gloomy-looking  Protestant  Cathedral.       Lalemant 
was  given  charge  of  it. 

To  be  parish  priest  at  Quebec  in  those  days  was  idyllic. 
The  city  was  growing  out  of  its  poverty  and  littleness,  and 
its  piety  was  keeping  pace  with  its  material  progress.  "When 
we  arrived,"  says  Le  Jeune,  "  there  was  only  one  family, 
and  they  were  about  to  return  to  France,  but  now  mul- 
titudes of  excellent  people  are  arriving.  We  know  nothing 
of  all  the  horrors  and  crimes  of  France  except  what  we  see 
in  the  paper,  which  comes  here  once  a  year."  There  were 
no  lawsuits  of  any  consequence,  and  the  governor  or  his 
lieutenant  settled  all  disputes  with  the  greatest  expedition. 
Laws  were  made  against  drunkenness,  blasphemy  and  ab- 
sence from  Mass;  and  they  were  promulgated  by  simply 
affixing  them  to  a  post  in  front  of  the  church.  Of  course, 
that  was  not  enough  to  have  them  observed,  and  the  stocks 
were  soon  placed  next  to  the  post.  Three  punishments  are 
recorded  as  having  been  publicly  inflicted  on  January  G, 
1636,  for  drunkenness,  blasphemy,  and  selling  liquor  to  the 
savages. 

For  attendance  at  church,  there  was  no  difficulty.  At 
each  Mass  the  chapel  was  crowded  to  the  very  altar  rail, 
"  and  all  the  services  were  as  fine,"  says  the  "  Relation," 
'■  as  in  any  church  in  France ;  "  a  bit  of  boasting  which,  of 
course,  calls  for  some  qualification.  There  were  sermons 
and  catechism,  and  Vespers  and  Solemn  Mass  ;  the  prone  was 
read,  and  the  pain  bcnit  distributed.  "  I  felt  my  heart  melt 
within  me,"  writes  Le  Jeune,  "  when  I  saw  all  this.  I  fan- 
cied I  was  back  in  France  again,  after  having  passed  some 
years  with  the  savages."  It  is  even  recorded  that  one  pious 
Christian  walked  in  the  snow  barefooted,  bareheaded,  and 
fasting,  for  a  distance  of  half  a  league,  to  atone  for  the 
offences  against  God  which  were  being  committed  in  France 
at  that  time.  Not  only  was  Lent  rigidly  kept,  but  it  is 
said  that  some  of  the  soldiers  at  the  garrison  scourged  them- 
selves in  church  as  a  penance  for  their  sins. 

265 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  happy  condition  of  Quebec  must,  of  course,  be 
ascribed  to  the  fact  that  Champlain  was  Governor,  for  it  can 
scarcely  be  questioned  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able men  that  the  New  World  ever  saw.  He  was  a  soldier 
in  his  youth,  but  as  the  salt  was  in  his  blood,  for  his  people 
were  all  sea-faring  folk,  we  find  him  while  yet  a  young 
man  threading  the  mazes  of  the  still  unexplored  West 
Indies,  travelling  overland  through  Mexico,  and  standing 
on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  which  even  then,  in  1603,  he 
proposed  to  cut  through,  for  a  passage  to  the  Pacific.  He 
explored  and  mapped  out  all  of  the  New  England  coast, 
was  associated  with  de  Monts  in  the  establishment  of 
Acadia,  and  in  1608  founded  Quebec.  We  find  him  then 
with  the  Iroquois  near  the  lake  which  bears  his  name,  and 
subsequently  far  up  in  the  northwest  among  the  Hurons, 
and  leading  them  across  Lake  Ontario  to  fight  their  hered- 
itary foes.  In  this  effort  he  failed,  and  was  carried  wounded 
from  the  field  of  battle.  He  held  his  citadel  of  Quebec 
against  the  English  though  his  men  were  starving,  and 
when  it  was  finally  surrendered,  it  was  his  entreaties  that 
induced  Richelieu  to  demand  the  restoration  of  Canada. 
Soldier,  sailor,  explorer,  legislator,  ruler,  battling  against 
civilized  and  savage  foes,  living  in  barracks  and  between 
decks,  in  forests  and  wigwams,  in  fortresses  and  palaces,  he 
was  not  only  a  practical  Christian,  but  an  extraordinarily 
devout  and  earnest  Catholic ;  so  pure  in  his  life  that  the  In- 
dians spoke  of  him  twenty  years  after  he  was  dead  with 
reverence  and  wonder.  His  "  habitation  "  at  Quebec  was 
like  a  religious  house,  and  he  made  laws  for  his  rough 
and  reckless  soldiers  and  sailors,  that  read  almost  like  the 
rules  of  a  monastery.  His  motto  was  that  the  conquest  of 
a  kingdom  was  not  worth  a  single  mortal  sin,  and  when 
he  died  he  gave  all  his  possessions  as  a  tribute  of  his  love 
to  the  Mother  of  the  Redeemer.  With  such  a  ruler  Quebec 
could  not  help  being  a  godly  city. 

He  died  on  Christmas  Day,  1636.     "  On  the  birthday  of 

266 


9»m 


c< 


i^mWMmVf  i'UMW 


i^*-J 


\    yffMfwyMwy.Mywwfwywfjyi^ 


■     -■«! 


CHAMPLAIN  MONUMENT,   QUEBEC. 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

Our  Saviour,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  our  Governor  was 
born  again  in  heaven.  It  is  true  that  he  Hved  a  hfe  of 
great  justice  and  equity,  but  at  his  death  his  virtue  was  so 
perfect  and  his  piety  so  great  that  he  amazed  us  all.  How 
his  eyes  streamed  with  tears !  and  how  his  lips  uttered  words 
burning  with  desire  of  the  service  of  God!  What  love  he 
had  for  his  people,  and  how  he  hoped  that  they  would  not 
be  left  unprotected ;  promising  meanwhile  to  do  all  that  lay 
in  his  power  for  their  good,  if  God  restored  him  to  health. 
He  was  not  taken  unaware  in  having  to  render  an  account 
to  God.  A  long  time  before,  he  had  made  a  general  con- 
fession of  his  whole  life  to  Father  Lalemant,  who  was  his 
friend  and  confessor,  and  who  was  always  at  his  side  during 
the  two  months  and  a  half  that  he  was  sick.  It  was  Father 
Lalemant  who  received  his  last  sigh." 

The  great  man's  obsequies  were  all  that  the  people  and 
soldiers  and  clergy  could  make  them.  Lalemant  officiated, 
and  Le  Jeune  preached  the  panegyric.  As  Le  Jeune  was 
said  to  be  "  a  man  of  steel  with  a  heart  of  fire,"  it  is  a  pity 
that  his  discourse  has  not  come  down  to  us. 

A  short  time  after  this  we  find  Lalemant  back  in  Europe. 
It  was  the  eighth  time  he  had  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  as 
ocean  trips  in  those  days  meant  two  and  sometimes  three 
months  of  intolerable  hardship  in  the  fetid  holds  of  crazy 
vessels,  we  can  reckon  up  about  two  years  of  life  which  he 
spent  on  the  deep,  diversified  in  his  case  with  two  ship- 
wrecks, a  sea  fight,  and  imprisonment  in  foreign  dungeons. 
He  is  entitled  to  a  brilliant  place  on  the  scroll  of  fame. 


267 


CHAPTER   III. 
Procurator  of  the  Missions. 

In  France,  Father  Lalemant's  long  acquaintance  with  the 
important  personages  of  the  reahn,  and  also  the  enthusiastic 
admiration  which  his  romantic  adventures  had  thrown 
around  his  name,  naturally  made  him  the  director  of  the 
benefactions  which  were  pouring  out  of  the  mother-coun- 
try, in  support  of  the  national  enterprise  in  America.  The 
Duchesse  d'Aiguillon,  Richelieu's  niece,  constituted  him  her 
almiOner,  and  many  others  followed  her  example,  and  it  was 
he  who  became  the  chief  instrument  in  the  foundation  of 
Montreal.  D'Ollier  de  Casson  says  the  work  could  never 
have  been  accomplished  v/ithout  his  consent. 

A  distinguished  and  unusually  pious  gentleman  named 
Jerome  Le  Royer  de  la  Dauversiere,  like  so  many  French- 
men of  that  period,  had  been  wrought  up  to  a  state  of  intense 
excitement  about  the  propagation  of  the  Faith  in  New 
France.  He  had  been  a  student  of  the  Jesuit  college  at 
La  Fleche,  and  at  the  end  of  his  studies  had  succeeded  to  his 
father's  wealth  and  worldly  honors,  married  and  was  the 
father  of  a  large  family.  Pie  led  a  very  devout  life,  and 
was  guided  in  his  piety  by  Father  Chauveau,  of  La  Fleche. 
His  scheme  of  founding  a  community  of  nuns  for  hospital 
work  at  La  Fleche,  in  connection  v/ith  a  colony  on  the 
Island  of  Montreal  was,  for  a  time,  regarded  by  his  spiritual 
guide  as  a  mere  fancy  or  delusion,  but  as  the  hospital  was 
finally  established,  contrary  to  all  expectations,  the  idea  of 
a  colony  at  Montreal  began  to  be  taken  more  seriously. 

The  main  difficulty  was  to  get  a  concession  of  the  Island, 
which  was  then  the  property  of  ^I.  de  Lauson,  but  who 
abruptly  and  peremptorily  dismissed  the  proposal  to  part 
with  it.     He  wanted  it  for  his  sons.     As  Father  Lalemant 

268 


1)AU\'i:rsiere,  founder  of  Montreal. 


(Old   Print.) 


CHARLES    LALEMANT. 

was  a  friend  of  de  Lauson's,  he  took  the  matter  in  hand,  and 
without  difficulty  obtained  the  grant.  Nevertheless,  M. 
TAbbe  Bertrand  de  la  Tour,  in  his  "  Memoirs  sur  la  Vie 
de  M.  de  Laval,"  informs  us  that  Dauversiere  and  his 
friends  "  bought  the  island  for  twenty  casks  of  merchandise, 
and  that  the  contract  was  duly  made  in  the  name  of  the 
little  Society  of  the  j\LM.  de  Montreal  in  the  month  of 
August,  1642." 

One  naturally  stands  aghast  at  such  an  assertion.  We  can 
admit  regretfully  that  the  white  men  made  purchases  of  that 
kind  from  the  savages,  and  can  be  amused  at  Washington  Ir- 
ving's  description  of  Ten  Broeck's  purchase  of  Manhattan 
Island,  but  that  de  Lauson  should  have  given  up  his  claim 
to  this  vast  possession  of  the  Island  of  Montreal  for  "20  ton- 
ncaux  d'effets,"  which  were  not  even  given  to  him,  but 
were  sent  to  Father  Le  Jeune,  Rector  of  the  College  of 
Quebec,  "  pour  fairc  racquisition  de  I'lsle,"  is  simply  in- 
comprehensible. Fortunately,  we  have  in  our  hands  a  very 
valuable  Ms.  of  Mr.  Jacques  Viger,  the  first  Mayor  of  Mon- 
treal, in  which  this  absurdity  is  very  emphatically  denied. 
He  says :  "  the  Island  of  Montreal  was  not  purchased  by 
this  Society,  by  means  of  those  '  20  tonneaux  d'effets  '  above 
mentioned,  nor  for  any  other  consideration.  M.  de  Lauson 
had  received  the  Island  as  a  gift  from  the  Company  of  the 
One  Hundred  Associates,  on  condition  of  establishing  a 
colony  there,  and  on  the  ITth  of  August  substituted  the 
name  of  M.  Olier  and  his  associates  for  his  own,  and  thus, 
with  the  approbation  of  the  Company  to  which  he  formerly 
belonged,  transferred  the  Island  to  the  Company  of  Mon- 
treal. But  not  only  did  Father  Lalemant  secure  for  the  new 
company  the  grant  of  the  Island  of  Montreal ;  he  also  gave 
it  the  heroic  Maisonneuve,  the  first  Governor. 

Maisonneuve  had  been  reading  the  "  Relations,"  and  came 
to  consult  Lalemant  about  the  manner  in  which  he,  as  a  man 
of  the  w^orld,  could  co-operate  wnth  the  work  of  establishing 
Christianity  in  Canada.     He  had  been  in  the  army  from 

209 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

boyhood,  and  had  kept  his  soul  untainted  by  the  corruption 
around  him.  He  was  now  in  the  full  vigor  of  life, 
and  as  there  was  no  war  in  which  his  country  was  engaged 
for  the  moment,  he,  like  many  another  soldier  of  those 
days,  began  to  dream  of  New  France.  Hearing  that  Lale- 
mant  was  in  Paris  as  Procurator  of  the  Missions,  he  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  Jesuit  house  and  asked  if  he  could 
be  of  service.  The  priest  and  the  soldier  talked  the  matter 
over,  and  when  Dauversiere  came  in  a  few  days  later,  and 
was  at  his  wit's  end  to  find  somebody  to  do  the  fighting  in 
the  new  colony,  Lalemant  put  him  in  communication  with 
Maisonneuve,  and  that  part  of  the  programme  was  quickly 
settled.  But  another  gap  had  to  be  filled.  In  the  spring 
of  1641,  when  the  first  batch  of  colonists  were  gathering  at 
La  Rochelle,  it  suddenly  dawned  upon  the  promoters  of  the 
project,  that  there  was  an  absolute  need  of  a  wise  and 
courageous  woman  to  look  after  the  household  effects  they 
were  bringing  over,  and  to  nurse  the  sick  and  wounded  on 
the  journey  and  in  the  colony.  Naturally  Dauversiere  was 
expected  to  supply  some  such  aid  from  his  Hospital  nuns 
at  La  Fleche,  but  that  could  not  be  done,  for  his  Institute 
had  not  been  officially  approved.  Why  it  should  have 
interfered  is  hard  for  the  average  man  to  understand,  but  the 
difficulty  was  met  by  the  Jesuits  who  presented  the  heroic 
Jeanne  Mance,  whom  they  induced  to  accept  the  task. 

Jeanne  was  then  about  thirty-five  years  of  age.  For  many 
years  she  had  been  thinking  of  devoting  herself  to  the  work 
of  assisting  the  missions  in  the  New  World,  and  her  con- 
fessor sent  her  to  Paris  to  see  Father  Lalemant.  After 
one  or  two  conversations,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  she  was 
the  woman  for  the  situation.  Father  St.  Jure,  the  famous 
ascetical  writer,  who  had  already  induced  the  Baron  de 
Renty  to  join  M.  Olier  and  his  friends,  undertook  her  spir- 
itual direction,  and  it  was  he  who  finally  fixed  her  in  her 
vocation.  None  of  the  Associates  of  the  Montreal  Company 
knew  her,  and  she  was  totally  unaware  of  their  existence, 

270 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

until  Father  de  la  Place,  a  missionary  who  had  temporarily 
returned  to  France,  spoke  to  her  of  the  Dauversiere's  en- 
terprise. The  result  was  that  in  the  month  of  August,  she 
was  on  the  vessel  with  Father  Vimont,  the  Superior  of 
the  Jesuit  Missions. 

"  Thus,"  says  the  Sulpitian  Faillon,  "  the  Jesuits  had  been 
so  far  the  instruments  of  all  the  success  which  the  Associa- 
tion had  succeeded  in  obtaining.  These  Fathers  had  ap- 
proved of  the  scheme  of  establishing  Montreal,  had  sent 
Dauversiere  to  Paris  to  make  the  arrangements;" — indeed 
they  had  ordered  him  to  go, — "  had  determined  M.  de 
Lauson  to  make  the  concession  of  the  island,  and  had  con- 
tributed to  induce  the  Company  of  Quebec  to  approve  of 
the  grant.  Finally  they  had  procured  for  the  Associates, 
who  were  then  in  the  greatest  embarrassment,  the  help  of 
M.  de  Maisonneuve  and  Mile.  Mance."  "  It  may  be  added 
also,"  says  Rochemonteix,  "  that  they  secured  another  mem- 
ber for  the  Association  in  the  person  of  M.  d'Ailleboust, 
who  succeeded  Maisonneuve  as  Governor  of  Montreal,  and 
who  later  became  Governor  of  all  Canada  when  Mont- 
magny  was  recalled."  Evidently  Montreal  owes  much  to 
the  Jesuits. 

M.  Dollier  de  Casson  in  his  "  Histoire  de  Montreal,"  does 
not  see  anything  suggestive  of  divine  inspiration  in  all  these 
business  transactions  which  set  the  new  Company  on  its 
feet,  but  the  author  of  the  "  Memoires  Particuliers  pour 
servir  a  I'histoire  de  I'Eglise  de  I'Amerique  du  Nord,"  re- 
gards the  establishment  of  the  colony  as  something  little 
short  of  miraculous.  M.  de  la  Dauversiere  is  alleged  to 
have  had  a  vision  of  the  place  of  the  new  settlement.  Never- 
theless, it  had  been  known  ever  since  the  time  of  Cartier; 
imany  living  in  France  had  seen  it,  and  it  had  already  been 
granted  to  de  Lauson  for  colonization.  In  the  same  strain 
the  pious  author  grows  enthusiastic  over  the  meeting  of 
Dauversiere  and  Olier,  when  they  recognize  each  other  by 
some  inward  prompting  of  the  spirit,  and  he  finds  it  extra- 

271 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OE  NORTH  AMERICA. 

ordinary  that  a  man  who  was  in  many  respects  so  unfitted 
to  carry  out  the  enterprise  as  Dauversiere  should  have  suc- 
ceeded. As  a  matter  of  fact  his  friends  had  to  come 
to  his  rescue.  Finally  it  is  unnecessary  to  accept  as  his- 
tory that  an  order  was  given  him  by  the  Holy  Family  to 
establish  the  Hospital  nuns  in  Montreal.  The  whole  affair 
is  romantic  enough  without  indulging  in  such  fancies. 

The  voyage  over  was  tolerably  pleasant  for  those  who 
were  on  the  ship  in  which  Mile.  Mance  embarked,  but  de 
Maisonneuve  had  a  hard  time  of  it,  and  arrived  at  Quebec 
much  later  than  the  others.  The  exact  dates  of  their  arrival 
seem  to  be  uncertain,  nor  is  it  sure  that  on  reaching 
Quebec,  de  Maisonneuve  made  haste  to  visit  the  place  of 
the  new  settlement.  However,  in  the  month  of  May,  1642, 
he,  along  with  Fathers  Vimont  and  Poncet,  and  accompanied 
by  Mme.  de  la  Peltrie,  Mile.  Mance  and  some  others,  landed 
on  the  island,  and  on  the  17th  or  18th,  Father  Vimont, 
after  celebrating  Mass  in  a  little  wooden  hut  hastily  con- 
structed, blessed  the  ground  of  the  new  colony.  All  the 
details  of  the  notable  event  may  be  found  in  the  writings 
of  Soeur  Bourgeois:  "  Les  Annales  manuscrites  de  I'Hotel 
Dieu  par  la  Soeur  Marie,"  and  in  the  histories  of  Charle- 
voix, and  M.  I'Abbe  de  la  Tour. 

For  the  first  fifteen  years  the  Jesuits  ministered  to  the 
spiritual  needs  of  the  colonists.  The  list  of  those  distin- 
guished men  is  given  to  us  in  the  precious  manuscript  of 
M.  Viger,  and  deserves  to  be  reproduced.  The  names  are 
as  follows : 

Joseph  Poncet  Adrien  Daran 

Joseph-Imbert   Duperon  Georges  d'Eudemare 

Ambroise   Davost  Pierre  Bailloquet 

Gabriel  Druillettes  Charles  Abanel 

Isaac  Jogues  Andre   Richard 

Jacques  Buteux  Simon  Le  Moyne 

Paul  Le  Jeune  Claude  Pijart 

272 


MAISONNFA'VE. 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

Two  martyrs,  and  all  the  rest  heroes,  thus  head  the  list  of 
the  clergy  of  Montreal.  The  Sulpitian  de  Oueylus  was  there 
for  a  few  months  in  1642,  but  he  withdrew  to  France,  and 
returned  only  in  1657  to  begin  the  seminary.  The  first 
parish  church  was  built  in  Montreal  as  late  as  1679.  Up  to 
that  time,  according  to  M.  Viger,  the  chapel  of  the  Hospital 
was  used  as  a  church.  The  Jesuits  withdrew  from  the 
care  of  the  island  in  1657. 

The  wisdom  of  Maisonneuve's  undertaking  to  establish 
a  new  colony  at  a  time  when  Quebec  was  struggling 
for  existence,  which  would  necessarily  mean  many  years 
of  fighting  and  the  loss  of  many  valuable  lives,  was  ques- 
tioned at  the  time  of  his  arrival  from  France,  and  has  since 
then  been  frequently  discussed.  Lalemant  could  have  pre- 
vented it  if  he  wished.  The  praise  or  blame  is  his.  But 
possibly  as  he  knew  that  de  Lauson  might  attempt  it,  he 
concluded  that  it  was  better  to  let  it  go  to  Maisonneuve. 

After  having  been  Procurator  of  the  Missions  he  became 
vice-provincial,  and  while  in  that  office  he  received  a  letter 
addressed  to  him  by  Father  Jogues,  describing  the  occur- 
rences on  the  Mohawk.  The  last  office  of  any  prominence 
held  by  him  was  that  of  Superior  of  the  Professed  House 
at  Paris.  That  famous  establishment  had  been  founded  in 
1588  by  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  the  uncle  of  Henry  IV, 
and  we  find  in  a  curious  old  book,  by  Germain  Brice,  that 
it  stood  in  the  widest  part  of  the  Rue  St.  Antoine,  just  op- 
posite the  Rue  de  la  Couture  de  Ste.  Catherine.  It  had  no 
•chapel  for  two  years,  and  then  a  small  one  was  built.  It 
was  there  that  Petavius  pronounced  his  solemn  vows  in 
1618.  It  disappeared  in  1627  to  make  place  for  a  large 
church  which  Louis  XIII  erected,  and  which  furnished  the 
first  example  of  an  edifice  of  its  size  with  a  dome  spanning 
the  intersection  of  nave  and  transept.  The  royal  funds  must 
have  been  low,  for  although  His  Majesty  laid  the  corner 
stone  in  1627,  the  church  was  not  opened  until  1641.  Lale- 
mant arrived  some  time  after  that  event. 

273 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Brice  tells  us  that  the  church  was  built  in  very  bad  taste. 
"  Its  general  style  is  Corinthian.  It  is  very  gorgeous  in- 
teriorly, but  very  badly  lighted,  the  reason  of  its  failure 
being  that  the  plans  of  the  Lay  Brother,  Martel  Ange,  who 
was  an  excellent  architect,  and  wanted  to  make  St.  Louis 
of  Paris  like  St.  Peter's  of  Rome,  were  set  aside  for  the 
plans  of  a  Reverend  Father  who  arrived  from  Lorraine. 
The  Brother  had  his  revenge  by  being  left  alone  when  he 
built  the  chapel  for  the  novitiate,  on  the  Faubourg  St. 
Germain,  which  was  as  much  of  a  success  as  the  other  was 
a  failure." 

While  there,  Lalemant  became  very  intimate  with  the 
Prince  de  Conti,  the  younger  brother  of  the  more  famous 
Prince  de  Conde,  but  the  friendship  caused  him  no  end  of 
trouble.  Both  Conde  and  Conti,  though  continually 
changing  from  one  party  to  the  other  in  the  strife  that  was 
wrecking  France,  were  most  frequently  in  opposition  both 
to  Mazarin  and  Queen  Anne  of  Austria.  Lalemant  was  as- 
sociated with  Conti,  not  for  politics  but  for  piety,  though  the 
Queen  did  not  think  so,  and  as  a  natural  consequence  he  was 
in  great  disfavor  at  Court.  The  Queen  Regent  feared  him, 
Colbert  suspected  him  and  Mazarin  set  spies  to  watch  him. 
Sad  to  say,  also,  some  of  his  brethren  uttered  hard  things 
about  him. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  forties  the  question  of  a  bishopric 
for  Quebec  was  mooted.  The  Queen  mother  wanted  Le 
Jeune ;  Ragueneau  was  thought  of  because  of  his  "  excep- 
tional abilities,"  to  use  Le  Jeune's  expression,  and  besides 
he  had  been  Conde's  preceptor.  But  while  the  excitement 
was  at  its  height  and  the  General  of  the  Society  had  for- 
bidden the  mention  of  the  names  of  either  Ragueneau  or 
Le  Jeune,  a  letter  came  from  the  Company  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred Associates  at  Quebec,  asking  for  Lalemant.  To  this 
request  Father  General  Nickel  answered  immediately,  on 
July  31,  1651,  refusing  the  request  of  **  the  distinguished 
gentlemen  of  the  Canadian  Society." 

274 


CHARLES   LALEMANT. 

"  There  is  need,"  he  says,  "  not  only  of  large  minded 
generosity,  but  also  of  Christian  piety,  when  there  is  a  ques- 
tion of  what  is  greatest  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  viz:  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls ;  in  this  case  of  the 
souls  of  the  savages.  If  our  Fathers  have  done  anything  to 
that  end  by  their  labors  and,  as  you  say,  at  the  constant  peril 
of  their  life,  they  have  merely  fulfilled  their  duty  and  have 
shown  that  they  were  worthy  of  their  calling.  They  have 
paid  their  homage  to  their  Creator,  for  whom  to  die  is  gain. 
But  when  actuated  by  love  for  them  you  ask  the  appointment 
to  the  new  see  by  royal  warrant  of  a  member  of  the  Society, 
namely  Father  Charles  Lalemant,  who  is  Rector  of  the 
Professed  House  of  Paris,  I  must  say,  while  recognizing 
the  request  as  a  mark  of  very  great  consideration  in  our 
regard,  that  such  an  appointment,  on  account  of  the  strict 
rule  of  our  Institute  in  that  matter,  is  impossible.  You 
will  therefore  easily  see  that  it  would  neither  be  grateful 
to  God  nor  good  to  your  distinguished  Association." 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  occurred  eight  years  before  the 
nomination  of  Laval.  All  three  Jesuits  were  debarred  by 
the  rule  of  their  Order,  and  Lalemant  had  the  additional 
impediment  of  the  Queen's  opposition.  He  was,  besides, 
sixty-four  years  of  age,  and  could  never  have  endured  the 
hardships  which  would  have  to  be  undergone  by  the  first 
Bishop  of  Quebec.  He  lived  twenty-three  years  after  that, 
however,  and  would  possibly  have  disappeared  from  public 
life  entirely  were  it  not  that  his  old  age  was  glorified  by 
a  book.  He  is  the  author  of  *'  La  Vie  Cachee  de  Jesus 
Christ  en  I'Eucharistie." 

Naturally  the  question  arises :  Is  there  not  some  con- 
fusion with  his  namesake,  Louis  Lalemant?  None  what- 
ever. Louis  Lalemant  died  at  Bourges  in  1635,  when 
Charles  Lalemant  was  still  at  Quebec.  The  first  edition  of 
the  ''  Vie  Cachee  "  is,  according  to  de  Backer,  in  "La  Biblio- 
theque  des  Ecrivains  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus,"  is  1660. 
Permission  to  prmt  it,  however,  was  given  in  1657,  by  the 

275 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Provincial  Father  Cellot.  Three  editions  of  it  were  pub- 
hshed  in  our  own  time;  one  in  1835,  a  second  in  1857, 
and  a  third  in  1888.  The  book  we  have  before  us  has  the 
date  of  1857.  The  editor,  Father  Cadres,  after  giving  us 
a  sketch  of  Lalemant's  career  in  America,  considers  it  an 
excellent  work,  and  regrets  that  it  had  been  so  long  out  of 
print.  It  had  been  published  three  times  before  the  author's 
death,  but  Father  Cadres  found  that  many  liberties  had  been 
taken  with  the  text,  though  he  himself  makes  divers  and 
sundry  corrections,  especially  with  "  certain  phrases  that 
might  hurt  delicate  ears."  Perhaps  the  old  missionary 
talked  too  plainly  at  times.  In  any  case  the  language 
in  Europe  was  far  more  direct  in  1660  than  it  is  in  our 
times.  But  we  are  told  that  the  "  unction  which  consti- 
tuted the  charm  of  Father  Lalemant  is  carefully  pre- 
served." Father  Southwell  attributes  also  to  Lalemant  a 
book  entitled:  "  Exercises  de  St.  Ignace  de  huit  jours,  an. 
1661."  The  last  years  of  the  old  missionary  were  passed  in 
great  bodily  pain.  He  was  afflicted  with  paralysis,  and 
died  November  18,  1674,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
.seven.  His  brother  Jerome  had  gone  to  heaven  one  year 
before  him. 


276 


JEROME   LALEMANT 


CHAPTER   I. 
First  Experiences. 

Jerome  or  Hierosme  Lalemant,  as  he  used  to  write  his 
name,  was  six  years  younger  than  his  brother  Charles,  and 
became  a  Jesuit  three  years  after  him.  He  entered  the 
novitiate  in  his  native  city,  and  not  at  Rouen.  He  was  born 
in  Paris,  April  27,  1593,  and  became  a  novice  October 
20,  1610;  consequently  when  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age. 
The  novitiate  had  just  been  established,  and  its  foundation 
was  due  to  a  single  sermon ;  not  that  the  preacher  had 
pleaded  for  it,  but  he  had  produced  such  an  impression  by 
a  discourse  before  the  King,  that  Madame  de  Sainte-Beuve 
immediately  made  up  her  mind  to  found  a  house  in  Paris 
which  might  produce  other  men  like  the  preacher,  Father 
Gonterey.  She  therefore  addressed  herself  to  some  friends, 
and  they  bought  the  Hotel  de  Meziere,  in  the  Faubourg 
St.  Germain.  "  It  had  a  fine  garden,"  the  account  informs 
us,  "  and  a  spacious  stable."  What  use  the  Jesuits  made 
of  that  part  of  the  establishment  is  not  recorded,  but  the 
pious  benefactress  seemed  to  have  been  particularly  pleased 
to  have  it,  in  her  gift  for  the  reason  that  Our  Lord  was  born 
in  a  stable. 

Knowing  nothing  of  all  this,  the  Marquise  de  Maignelais, 
had  also  made  an  offer  to  build  a  novitiate  on  one  of  her 
estates,  proposing  at  the  same  time  to  furnish  ample  funds 
to  support  it.  Father  Coton  made  haste  to  communicate 
with  the  General  Aquaviva,  "  who,  however,"  says  Prat, 
"  was  of  the  opinion  that  a  novitiate  should  be  in  a  city 
where  hospitals  and  schools  would  give  the  candidates  for 
an  apostolic  life,  an  opportunity  to  exercise  their  zeal. 
Nevertheless,  for  want  of  something  better,  it  was  decided 
to  accept  the  establishment  in  the  country."       Meantime 

279 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Madame  de  Sainte-Beuve  had  been  going  on  with  her  city 
plans,  and  had  even  succeeded  in  instalhng  the  novices  at 
Paris,  March  25,  1610. 

It  is  all  a  pretty  story,  but  how  the  Father  General  could 
have  been  in  such  ignorance  about  the  successful  competi- 
tor's work,  is  hard  to  imagine.  At  all  events,  Henry  IV  was 
glad  to  have  it  in  Paris,  and  the  benevolent  Marquise,  whose 
plans  had  been  so  unceremoniously  set  aside,  is  reported  to 
have  remained  as  friendly  as  ever.  Jerome  Lalemant  was 
one  of  the  first  novices  to  enter  the  new  foundation. 

After  his  novitiate  we  find  him  a  student  of  philosophy 
at  Pont-au-Mousson ;  then  Prefect  in  the  boarding  school 
at  Verdun,  and  Professor  in  the  lower  classes  at  Amiens. 
From  1619  to  1623  he  was  studying  theology  in  the  Col- 
lege of  Clermont,  and  after  that  he  taught  philosophy  and 
the  sciences  there  for  three  years.  He  then  went  to  Rouen 
for  his  Third  Year  of  Probation,  and  after  having  filled  the 
post  of  Minister  and  Principal  of  the  Interns  at  Clermont, 
he  was  sent  to  be  Rector  at  Blois,  where  he  remained  from 
1632  to  1636.  He  went  back  to  Clermont,  where  he  was 
appointed  Spiritual  Father,  and  after  two  years  in  that 
office  set  out  for  Canada.  To  have  been  engaged  in  such 
duties  makes  it  clear  that  he  was  not  an  ordinary  man. 

Arriving  at  Quebec,  he  started  almost  immediately  for 
the  Huron  Missions,  and  on  the  way  up  he  was  the  hero  of 
what  he  called  a  tragi-comedy.  The  scene  was  in  an  old 
hut,  on  the  Isle  des  Allumettes.  The  Hurons  took  pos- 
session of  it  while  he  remained  outside  to  recite  his  breviary. 
After  a  little  while  he  was  summoned  to  enter,  and  ordered 
to  sit  down  beside  a  particularly  surly-looking  Algonquin. 
The  Indian  stared  at  him  and  immediately  grew  furious. 
It  appears  that  a  Frenchman  in  a  party  which  had  gone 
ahead,  had  undertaken  to  bleed  one  of  the  Algonquin's  rela- 
tives to  relieve  him  of  a  fever,  but  the  patient  died.  "  You 
must  pay  for  that,"  cried  the  savage,  scowling  at  Lalemant, 
and  holding  an  axe  over  his  head.     The  expected  blow, 

280 


u 

o 
>, 

o 


in 
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t/2 

w 
Q 

u 

< 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

however,  was  not  given,  for  the  Indian  suddenly  changed 
his  mind,  and  began  to  dance  wildly  around  the  cabin. 
Then  another  fancy  moved  him,  and  seizing  a  bow  string 
he  attempted  to  choke  his  victim.  Here  Lalemant  con- 
cluded it  was  proper  to  do  something  in  self-defence,  and 
he  held  the  crazy  fellow  off  at  arm's  length,  remonstrating 
with  him  meanwhile ;  but  his  words  only  increased  the  fury 
of  his  assailant,  who,  after  making  another  effort  at  strangu- 
lation, a  result  which  the  priest's  collar  interfered 
with,  because  the  hooks  baffled  the  Indian's  ingenuity  to 
unfasten  them,  again  took  up  his  tomahawk  and  resumed 
his  dance.  The  friendly  Hurons  meantime  smoked  their 
pipes  and  looked  on  placidly  at  the  performance. 

At  last  the  Frenchmen  outside  hearing  the  uproar,  seized 
their  weapons  and  rushed  in.  They  were  upon  the  point 
of  killing  the  Algonquin,  but  fortunately  Lalemant  stopped 
them ;  for  such  an  act  might  have  brought  on  a  v^ar.  "  Ask 
these  Hurons  what  they  mean,"  he  said,  "  after  promising 
to  protect  us."  The  Hurons  remonstrated  feebly,  but  the 
Algonquin  drove  them  out,  and  then  seizing  the  priest  by 
the  foot  sat  glaring  at  him  considering  what  was  best  to 
be  done.  From  time  to  time  the  Hurons  looked  in  at  the 
door.  "  Finally,"  says  Lalemant,  "  they  succeeded  in  as- 
suring the  crazy  fellow  that  they  would  be  responsible  for 
my  safe  keeping.  Whereupon  he  let  go  his  grip,  and  I 
went  out  to  say  my  breviary."  Evidently  he  did  not  pro- 
pose to  let  a  trifle  like  strangulation  interfere  with  his  piety. 

Then  the  Hurons  called  a  meeting  and  resolved  to  give 
the  Algonquin  some  presents  to  soothe  him.  So  they  went 
to  see  him,  and  laid  before  him  three  hatchets  and  the  blade 
of  an  old  sword.  After  the  usual  preliminaries  the  senior 
Huron  solemnly  rose,  and  taking  the  deadly  implements  up 
one  by  one  said  pompously :  "  These  are  to  free  the  French- 
man whom  you  hold."  The  Algonquin  examined  the 
hatchet  very  critically,  and  with  equal  pomposity  replied : 
'  The   desire   to    kill    the   Frenchman    is    now    leaving   my 

281 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

head,  but  in  order  that  it  may  get  out  completely  I  want  a 
pot.'  There  was  no  pot  available,  so  they  gave  him  a 
shirt,  with  which  he  professed  himself  satisfied.  Then  tell- 
ing some  one  to  fetch  him  a  dish  of  water,  he  washed  his 
face  and  particularly  his  eyes,  and  drank  what  was  left. 
Those  sons  of  the  forest  were  not  over  delicate.  "  Behold," 
he  says,  "  this  is  to  dry  my  eyes,  and  change  my  face ;  it  is 
to  swallow  all  the  bitterness  of  my  wrath;"  after  which 
unburdening  of  his  heart,  he  trotted  off  to  get  some  presents 
and  returned  in  a  few  minutes  with  a  beaver  skin,  as  a  sign 
of  reconciliation. 

Now  it  was  the  Hurons'  turn.  When  the  storm  was 
over  they  began  to  protest  their  love  for  the  priest,  and 
urged  him  to  write  a  full  account  of  the  incident  to  the 
Governor,  and  to  say  in  the  letter  that  one  of  the  Hurons 
was  so  angry  that  he  thought  of  tomahawking  the  Algon- 
quin next  morning.  Lalemant  did  not  trouble  the  Governor 
with  any  communication,  nor  did  the  Huron  disturb  the 
Algonquin  with  a  tomahawk.  "  The  mosquitoes  are  eating 
me  up  so  rapidly,"  writes  the  light-hearted  missionary 
to  his  Superior  at  Quebec,  "  that  there  is  not  enough  left  of 
me  to  put  down  another  word." 

He  finally  reached  de  Brebeuf  and  his  friends  at  Ihoni- 
tiria.  He  came  as  Superior  of  the  Missions,  and  as  he  was 
pre-eminently  an  organizer,  the  first  thing  he  did  was  to 
take  a  census  of  the  population.  He  ordered  the  Fathers 
to  put  their  packs  on  their  backs,  and  tramp  off  in  the  snow 
of  winter  from  village  to  village,  and  count  the  number  of 
individuals  they  had  charge  of.  By  the  spring  of  1639, 
all  had  returned  from  north,  east,  south  and  west,  and 
reported  that  they  had  found  thirty-two  villages  or  towns, 
with  a  population  of  12,000  souls.  An  estimate  had 
already  been  made  by  de  Brebeuf  four  years  before,  which 
gave  only  twenty  villages,  but  with  35,000  inhabitants.  It 
is  not  possible  to  ascertain  how  exact  the  first  figures  were, 
but  famine,  pestilence  and  war  had  ravaged  these  unfor- 

282 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

lunate  tribes  meantime,  and  it  is  quite  likely  that  the  decrease 
of  one  third  of  the  population  was  correct. 

In  connection  with  the  census,  a  map  of  the  territory 
was  also  made.  Unfortunately  it  has  not  come  down  to 
us,  but  very  likely  the  map  of  Du  Creux  is  a  modified  form 
of  it,  and  it  was  inserted  with  some  alterations  in  Father 
Du  Creux's  works,  bearing  the  date  of  1660.  It  has  no 
scale,  and  there  are  some  variations  in  the  names  employed 
as  well  as  certain  hap-hazard  drawings,  as,  for  instance, 
where  Lake  Simcoe  by  being  made  almost  circular,  projects 
into  territory  which  in  reality  projects  into  it,  but  on  the 
whole  it  is  extremely  valuable  in  helping  us  to  understand 
the  relative  positions  of  the  various  villages. 

Another  matter  that  engaged  his  attention  was  the 
solution  of  the  problem  of  how  to  secure  lay  assistance 
for  the  missions;  which  was  very  much  needed.  For 
when  the  priests  first  went  to  Huronia,  they  slept  in  the 
wigwams  with  the  savages,  eat  out  of  the  same  filthy  dish, 
patched  their  tattered  garments  as  best  they  could,  etc.  In 
such  surroundings  and  because  of  the  shocking  immorality 
always  before  their  eyes,  it  was  impossible  to  think  of 
placing  a  layman.  But  later,  when  they  possessed  lodges 
of  their  own,  and  were  compelled  to  provide  for  their 
own  sustenance,  help  was  needed.  There  had  to  be  some 
one  not  only  to  serve  them  at  Mass,  but  also  to  guard 
the  house  when  they  were  away  on  long  missionary  ex- 
cursions. It  was  absolutely  out  of  the  question  to  employ 
lay-brothers  for  such  work,  for  they  might  have  to  use  a 
gun  to  defend  themselves  in  case  of  an  attack;  they  would 
have  to  hunt  and  fish  and  plant  corn  to  provide  the  daily 
food ;  and  besides  would  be  brought  into  daily  contact  with 
the  shameless  licentiousness  of  both  the  men  and  women 
of  the  tribe.  It  would  be  impossible  to  induce  any  ordinary 
brother  to  adopt  a  life  of  such  isolation  and  suffering. 
What  was  to  be  done? 

Lalemant  had  discussed  the  matter  with  the  provincial 

283 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

in  France,  and  they  had  agreed  that  the  only  feasible  thing 
was  to  adopt  a  system  which  had  proved  a  success  in  one 
of  the  French  provinces,  when  brothers  were  scarce.  Lay- 
men had  been  accepted,  who  without  belonging  to  the 
Society  had,  because  of  a  life-contract  and  the  permission 
to  bind  themselves  by  what  are  called  vows  of  devotion, 
taken  upon  themselves  the  care  of  the  temporal  concerns 
of  the  religious  houses  in  which  they  lived.  This  seemed 
to  be  a  solution  of  the  problem,  and  so  the  system  of  donncs 
or  ohlatcs  was  established.  In  1639  six  or  seven  domestics, 
who  were  already  working  with  the  Fathers,  and  who  were 
recognized  as  men  of  solid  piety  and  well-tried  virtue,  were 
permitted  to  pronounce  conditional  vows  whose  wording 
was  somewhat  like  the  formula  of  the  vows  of  the  Society. 
They  were  to  renew  these  vows  twice  a  year,  to  wear  the 
religious  habit,  and  the  Society  bound  itself  to  take  care  of 
them  for  life. 

Evidently  the  General  had  not  been  consulted  about  all 
this,  and  as  soon  as  the  scheme  was  presented  to  him  it  was 
found  to  labor  under  serious  objections.  First,  it  had  been 
tried  in  the  East  Indies  with  deplorable  results,  and  besides,  it 
was  nothing  else  than  a  Third  Order  which  the  Society 
has  never  admitted.  Consecjuently  Father  Vitelleschi  con- 
demned it,  objecting  also  to  the  habit,  the  vows,  and  the 
contract  for  life  support.  It  was  quite  a  shock  for  Father 
Lalemant,  so  he  summoned  his  council  and  recast  the  whole 
plan.  In  the  new  arrangement  the  donnes  were  not  to  take 
vows,  nor  wear  the  habit.  The  life-contract  was  so  modified 
that  they  were  to  agree  to  accept  no  salary,  on  condition 
of  life-sustenance,  but  with  the  understanding  that  the 
agreement  was  not  made  with  the  whole  Society,  but  with 
the  Superior  of  Canada.  Finally,  it  was  stipulated  that  there 
would  be  no  exterior  distinction  between  the  donnes  and 
the  hired  men,  and  that  they  could  be  dismissed  at  any 
time  if  found  unworthy  of  their  vocation.  On  April 
2,  1643,  this  arrangement,  signed  by  Lalemant,  Le  Mercier, 

284 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

Pijart,  Ragueneaii  and  Chastelain,  was  forwarded  to  Rome 
and  accepted. 

Some  of  these  donncs  have  become  immortal.  "  Without 
being  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,"  says  Bancroft,  "they 
were  exceptional  men  who  were  ready  to  shed  their  blood 
for  the  Faith."  The  most  illustrious  of  all  are,  of  course, 
Goupil  and  Lalande,  who  were  the  associates  of  Father 
Jogues.  Not  very  far  from  them  in  greatness  was  William 
Couture,  who,  on  the  occasion  of  the  capture  of  Jogues,  after 
succeeding  in  getting  well  out  of  the  hands  of  the  savages, 
deliberately  and  fiercely  fought  his  way  back,  till  he  stood  all 
reeking  with  blood  at  the  side  of  Jogues,  and  quite  ready  to 
die  with  him.  He  was  not  killed  however,  but  was  adopted 
by  the  tribe,  and  when  two  years  later  the  Indians  assembled 
at  Three  Rivers  for  a  treaty  of  peace,  Couture,  dressed 
as  an  Indian,  appeared  as  one  of  their  principal  delegates. 
He  did  not  return  again  to  this  savage  life,  but  remained 
in  the  colony.  He  married,  after  being  duly  released  from 
his  vows,  became  the  father  of  a  large  family,  and  lived 
till  the  age  of  ninety.  His  descendants  to-day  dwell  mostly 
around  Pointe  Levis,  opposite  Quebec. 

Guerin,  who  accompanied  Menard  to  the  Far  West  was 
also  a  donne,  and  perhaps  Chouart,  who  subsequently  be- 
came an  associate  of  the  famous  Radisson,  and  is  known 
as  le  Sieur  de  Groselier.  He  and  Radisson,  whose  sister 
he  married,  are  the  founders  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany. He  was,  at  least,  one  of  the  domestics,  who  even 
though  they  had  not  assumed  the  obligation  of  donnes 
were  unusual  men ;  and  there  is  a  passage  in  the  "  Relations  " 
which  records  the  great  purity  of  their  lives  and  the  immense 
services  they  rendered  to  the  mission.  Among  them  we  find 
one  who  is  registered  as  "  a  boy."  He  was  more  than 
likely  the  "  petit  gargon "  whom  Jogues  carried  on  his 
shoulders  on  the  first  painful  journey  to  Huronia.  He  had 
fallen  sick,  and  the  priest  toiled  along  with  him  over  the 
difficult  portages  until  finally  an  Indian  had  to  come  to  the 

285 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 

relief  of  both,  by  volunteering  to  carry  the  child  the  rest  of 
the  way. 

What  this  boy  was  doing  in  the  wilderness  or  to  whom  he 
belonged  we  do  not  know,  but  he  was  probably  the  Jean 
Amiot  whom  the  Indians  called  Antaiok.  Later  on  he  be- 
came a  daring  fighter  but  withal  extremely  prudent,  always 
escaping  any  serious  injury,  and  always  attributing  his  pro- 
tection to  his  patron  St.  Joseph.  It  is  told  of  him  that  on  one 
occasion  when  he  was  out  hunting,  he  found  himself  in- 
capable of  making  a  single  step  in  advance.  He  prayed  for 
a  moment  and  then  said  to  the  Huron  along  side  of  him : 
"Something  is  wrong  here;  let  us  return."  He  found 
later  that  they  had  been  going  right  into  an  Iroquois  am- 
buscade. He  was  noted  also  for  putting  a  stop  to  bad 
conversations  and  profanity — his  irreproachable  life  and  his 
admitted  valor  as  a  warrior  giving  authority  to  his  words. 
He  was  as  pure  as  an  angel,  and  in  one  instance  he  had  to 
imitate  Joseph  of  Egypt  in  his  flight  from  danger.  As  he 
was  always  among  the  first  to  seize  his  weapons  and  hurry 
to  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  in  the  constant  alarms  of  those 
days,  he  said  to  one  of  the  Fathers :  *'  In  case  I  am  killed 
I  have  a  lot  of  wood  and  other  things  to  build  a  house.  I 
want  you  to  take  whatever  there  is,  for  a  chapel  in  honor 
of  St.  Joseph."  The  same  devotion  prompted  him  to  organ- 
ize a  flying  troop  of  Indians  to  be  ready  for  every  attack,  and 
he  proposed  to  call  it  "  the  army  of  St.  Joseph."  He  did  not 
die  in  war  however,  but  in  1647  he  went  down  to  Quebec  to 
get  a  commission  from  the  Governor  to  lead  a  squad  of 
Frenchmen  against  the  Iroquois.  He  had  reached  Three 
Rivers  and  there  he  won  every  heart  by  his  bright  and  joyous 
disposition,  as  well  as  by  his  physical  prowess.  He  was  a 
great  athlete,  and  could  beat  every  one,  white  men  and  In- 
dians alike,  at  racing  with  raquettes  or  without  them,  but 
no  one  begrudged  him  his  victories,  so  much  was  he  beloved. 
Unfortunately  while  out  on  the  river,  and  in  full  view  of  all 
his  friends,  he  and  his  companion,  Francis  Marguerie,  were 

286 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

caught  in  a  squall  and  drowned  before  help  could  be  given 
them.  In  the  curious  language  of  the  "  Relations  "  we  are 
told  that  "  this  brave  soldier  of  St.  Joseph  made  a  journey 
of  twenty-five  or  thirty  leagues  to  be  interred  in  the  residence 
of  St.  Joseph,"  which  means  that  they  brought  his  body 
to  Quebec  to  be  buried. 

When  Lalemant  arrived  in  Huronia,  the  arrangement  of 
the  various  sites  did  not  please  him.  A  system  of  resi- 
dences in  the  principal  centres  had  been  planned,  and  besides 
the  two  already  established  at  Ossossane  and  Tenaustaye, 
two  more  were  contemplated.  He  changed  all  that,  and 
set  about  founding  a  central  house  as  a  basis  of  operations 
from  which  the  Fathers  could  go  to-  the  different  parts  of 
the  country.  He  was  dreaming,  of  a  Paraguay  on  Lake 
Huron.  The  building  was  to  be  a  parallelogram  seventy- 
five  by  ninety  feet,  protected  by  a  ditch  and  palisades  on 
the  sides  facing  the  River  Wye,  near  where  that  stream 
runs  into  Georgian  Bay.  On  the  other  two  sides  there  was 
to  be  a  wall  of  masonry  supporting  a  palisade,  and  provided 
with  bastions.  Within  the  inclosure  were  to  be  the  house 
of  the  missionaries,  the  chapel,  servants'  quarters  and  two 
houses  of  retreat,  one  for  Indians  who  came  for  instruction, 
the  other  for  passers  by  who  stayed  for  a  day  or  so.  Out- 
side the  walls  were  two  great  lodges  built  in  Indian  fashion, 
one  for  an  hospital,  the  other  a  shelter  for  wandering 
Hurons.  There  was  also  a  cemetery,  and  beyond  that  the 
farm.  The  entire  settlement  was  to  be  enclosed  by  a 
stockade.  Richelieu  approved  the  plans  and  promised  funds 
and  soldiers,  but  we  have  no  record  of  what  he  contributed 
in  the  way  of  money.  The  military  force  was  scarcely  ever 
more  than  a  corporal's  guard. 

These  great  plans  were  carried  out,  but  the  scheme  of 
having  all  the  Fathers  together  was  found  after  a  few  years 
not  to  be  workable,  and  when  Lalemant  went  down  to 
Quebec  in  1645,  he  informed  the  Provincial  that  there  were 
six  residences  where  the  Fathers  lived,  namely :  the  principal 

287 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

one  which  he  had  built  at  St.  Mary's ;  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception at  Ossossane ;  St.  Joseph's  at  Tenaustaye ;  St. 
Michael's,  St.  Ignatius',  and  St.  John  the  Baptist.  There 
was  even  a  seventh  one,  but  it  was  only  temporary.  It  was 
for  the  Algonquins  who  wintered  in  the  Huron  territory, 
and  was  under  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


288 


CHAPTER    II. 
Sketches  of  the  Hurons. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no  more  of  the  personal 
adventures  of  Father  Lalemant,  but  as  he  was  always  Su- 
perior, and  wrote  the  account  of  what  was  happening,  he 
effaces  himself  completely.  No  doubt  he  had  many  an 
experience  like  the  one  that  occurred  down  at  Allumettes; 
but  instead  of  that  he  gives  us  some  valuable  information 
about  the  people  he  was  laboring  with.  It  will  serve  as  a 
supplement  of  what  we  have  from  de  Brebeuf 

One  of  the  most  striking  of  these  pen-pictures  is  the  ac- 
count of  one  of  their  superstitious  practices.  Possibly  when 
he  was  a  professor  at  college  in  France,  he  had  charge  of 
the  dramatic  representations,  for  just  as  he  called  his 
struggle  with  the  crazy  Algonquin  a  tragi-comedy,  he 
describes  the  events  he  is  now  narrating  as  a  drama  in  five 
acts.  He  begins  by  telling  us  that  a  woman  of  the  village 
went  out  of  her  cabin  one  night  with  her  child  in  her  arms. 
Immediately,  she  fancied  that  the  moon  fell  on  her  head  and 
then  transformed  itself  into  a  beautiful  woman  holding  in 
her  arms  a  child  like  her  own. 

"  I,"  said  the  spectre,  "  am  the  immortal  ruler  of  these 
countries  and  its  inhabitants.  Therefore  I  wish  you  to  go 
everywhere  to  compel  the  people  to  give  you  presents.  Go  to 
the  Petuns  for  tobacco,  to  the  sorcerers  for  porcupine  belts, 
etc.  As  I  am  all  fire  I  order  you  to  be  dressed  entirely  in 
red;  a  red  hat,  red  feather,  red  cincture,  etc." 

In  consequence  of  her  order  the  squaw  started  like  a  flash 
for  her  cabin,  and  forthwith  went  into  convulsions,  possibly 
out  of  delight  at  her  prospective  adornments.  She  straight- 
way began  to  clamor  for  the  satisfaction  of  her  dream, 
and  crowds  rushed  in  to  see  what  they  could  do  for  hen 

289 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

As  usual,  it  became  a  national  afifair;  a  council  was  sun> 
moned,  and  the  sages  determined  that  the  lady  must  be 
gratified  in  getting  whatever  she  asked.  Consequently  next 
morning  criers  went  through  the  village  ordering  prepara- 
tions for  the  feast,  and  instantaneously,  as  if  there  were  a 
conflagration,  people  were  seen  hurrying  to  and  fro  to  gather 
what  was  necessary  for  the  event.  A  council  was  again 
summoned,  and  Lalemant  and  the  Fathers  were  invited. 

"What  do  you  think  of  it?"  they  were  asked.  "It  is 
all  craziness  or  deviltry,"  was  the  answer;  whereupon  a  cun- 
ning old  chief  pretending  that  the  priests  had  given  their 
assent,  cried  out  to  the  mob:  "Courage  men;  courage 
women ;  courage  brothers ;  perform  the  ceremony  now,  that 
is  necessary  for  our  country  and  is  in  keeping  with  the 
customs  of  our  ancestors."  Then  in  a  stage  whisper  to 
those  near  him  he  added :  "  I  told  these  Frenchmen  that 
they  were  going  to  see  things  that  would  astonish  them, 
but  that  they  should  not  mind,  for  I  heard  at  Quebec  and 
Three  Rivers  that  if  we  were  Christians  in  four  or  five 
years  that  would  be  soon  enough." 

While  this  by-play  was  going  on,  delegates  from  the 
squaw  came  in,  and  asked  for  two  men  and  two  garls  to  be 
sent  to  her,  in  order  to  learn  what  she  wanted.  The  persons 
designated  withdrew ;  and  at  mid-day,  the  lady  in  red,  seated 
on  a  sort  of  a  hod  and  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
braves  in  the  midst  of  a  mob  that  was  howling  its 
lungs  out,  entered  the  lodge.  Her  four  coryphaei  were 
attired  pretty  nearly  in  nature's  garb,  having  left  their  gar- 
ments as  a  tribute  to  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  revels,  and 
they  declared  that  six  dogs  of  a  certain  color  which  they 
described  were  required,  and  also  six  rolls  of  tobacco,  a 
quantity  of  other  things  besides,  and  finally  a  blue  dress, 
which  the  French  must  give  her. 

Great  excitement  followed,  and  before  the  Fathers  could 
escape  from  the  crowd,  fifteen  of  the  presents  were  laid  at 
the  feet  of  the  thrifty  squaw.     "  What  are  you  going  to  do 

290 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

about  the  blue  dress  ?  "  the  missionaries  were  asked.  "  You 
are  laughing  at  us,"  was  the  answer;  whereat  the  whole 
assembly  was  scandalized.  "  If  that  is  the  reason  you  called 
us  here  you  can  tell  her  to  go  home  without  a  present  from 
us,"  said  the  priests,  and  they  vanished  from  the  scene, 
only  to  be  followed  by  the  chief,  who  begged  them  not  to 
break  the  spell.  "  Such,"  says  Lalemant,  "  was  the  first 
act  of  the'drama." 

The  second  consisted  in  every  one  going  to  the  squaw's 
lodge,  whither  she  had  meantime  been  transported  with 
great  solemnity.  No  one  was  empty-handed,  and  the 
presents  were  literally  rained  on  her.  She  was  kept  busy 
avoiding  the  missiles.  At  sunset,  the  chiefs  were  out  on 
the  streets  again,  shouting  to  everyone  to  stir  up  the  fires 
and  to  make  them  as  hot  as  possible,  for  such  was  the 
dreamer's  command.  The  fires  were  soon  ready,  and  two 
braves  took  her  by  the  hand  and  led  her  from  house  to 
house.  To  the  astonishment  of  every  one,  though  her  feet 
and  her  legs  were  bare,  she  walked  through  two  or  three 
hundred  fires,  not  only  without  being  burned,  but  complain- 
ing that  the  fire  was  not  hot  enough.  Was  it  a  trick  or 
deviltry  ? 

The  third  act  consisted  in  a  general  outbreak  of  insanity. 
Every  one  except  a  few  old  and  decrepit  Indians,  began  to 
run  over  the  course  the  woman  had  followed.  They  were 
all  painted  and  bedaubed  and  wore  ridiculous  and  hideous 
masks,  and  kept  up  such  a  din  and  committed  such  wild 
acts  that  "  they  seemed,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  like  the 
bacchantees  of  old  or  like  the  devils  in  hell."  The  laws  of 
the  feast  gave  them  full  license  to  do  and  say  what  they 
liked  with  impunity.  They  upset  the  pots  on  the  fires; 
they  smashed  the  earthenware ;  they  killed  the  dogs ;  they 
scattered  fire  brands  in  every  direction  at  the  risk  of  burning 
the  lodge  or  the  whole  village,  and  no  one  dared  to  inter- 
fere with  them ;  the  idea  being  that  the  more  riot  there  was, 
the  quicker  the  sick  person  would  recover. 

291 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  fourth  act  was  the  "  solving  of  the  riddles."  Every 
one  ran  around  proposing  them.  The  answer  was  given 
not  in  words,  but  by  throwing  some  object  at  the  questioner. 
Thus,  for  instance,  one  would  say :  "  I  want  a  lake,"  and 
would  be  answ^ered  by  a  kettle  of  water  being  flung  at  him. 
The  one  who  propounded  the  riddle  kept  the  kettU  '  any 
case,  but  if  the  answer  to  his  conundrum  was  correct  there 
was  great  rejoicing,  and  every  one  began  to  beat  the  sides 
of  the  wigwam  to  show  their  joy,  and  also  to  console  the 
patient  who,  perhaps,  was  then  at  the  other  end  of  the 
village,  but  who  was  supposed  to  be  comforted  by  this  absent 
treatment.  Covetous  persons  could  thus  acquire  consider- 
able property.  It  is  needless  to  say,  some  of  the  requests 
were  gross  and  indecent.  No  one  was  idle,  but  all  were 
running  like  mad  from  house  to  house  proposing  and  solv- 
ing the  riddles,  hammering  on  the  sides  of  the  lodges,  and 
carrying  off  other  people's  household  effects.  The  act  con- 
cluded by  a  general  meeting  in  the  lodge  of  the  trouble- 
some female  who  had  caused  all  this  disturbance,  for  they 
liad  to  answer  her  riddles.  If  she  was  skilful  she  could 
keep  them  busy  throwing  things  at  her  all  night.  Finally, 
when  everyone  was  worn  out,  a  council  was  summoned 
and  the  number  of  successful  answers  was  counted.  On 
this  occasion  it  was  ascertained  that  one  hundred  correct 
guesses  were  made,  and  the  vilage  plumed  itself  that  night 
on  its  marvellous  cleverness. 

Two  days  and  nights  w-ere  spent  in  this  folly.  On  the 
third  day,  her  ladyship  began  the  fifth  and  last  act.  She 
was  conducted  to  every  house  in  the  village.  After  and 
before  her,  was  a  long  line  of  mourners  in  single  file,  crawl- 
ing alone  in  solemn  silence,  with  bowed  heads  and  dismal 
faces.  While  the  procession  was  passing,  no  one  dared 
appear  on  the  streets.  When  it  entered  a  house,  the  woman 
recited  in  doleful  tones  all  her  woes,  and  explained  the 
purposes  of  her  enigmas.  Presents  were  again  hurled  at 
her.        She  went  to  the  next  cabin  and  the  next,  her  at- 

fV  O  tW 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

tendants  meantime  gathering  up  the  pots,  and  coats,  and 
hats  and  shoes,  and  whatever  she  was  thus  vigorously  pre- 
sented with.  She  made  the  round  of  the  village  three  times, 
and  while  the  presents  were  accumulating  and  the  riddles 
read,  the  battering  of  the  lodges  continued,  the  yells  grew 
louder,  the  congratulations  on  her  recovered  health  became 
more  vociferous,  she  meantime  keeping  up  her  piteous  wail 
of  thanks  for  their  kindness,  and  conveying  her  assurance 
that  she  was  feeling  somewhat  better.  "  It  is  a  comedy  so 
far,"  says  Lalemant,  "  but  the  child  upon  whom  the  moon 
had  fallen,  sickened  and  died  meantime.  However  while  the 
mother  was  engaged  in  public  affairs,  one  of  the  mission- 
aries baptized  the  poor  little  fellow  and  sent  him  to  heaven." 

This  is  only  one  of  the  endless  varieties  of  "  omens, 
dreams  and  such  like  fooleries,"  which  these  degraded 
savages  indulged  in.  There  was  no  end  to  them ;  the 
reason  of  their  multiplicity  being  that  the  Hurons  were  not 
a  homogeneous  people,  but  an  agglomeration  of  all  sorts 
of  exiles  and  fugitives  who  had  agreed  to  live  together 
for  mutual  defense.  Hence  each  section  contributed  its 
special  superstition  with  its  own  fixed  and  unalterable  ritual, 
every  detail  of  which  had  to  be  rigorously  observed.  To 
ensure  their  perpetuity,  a  great  number  of  societies  had 
been  formed,  which  were  to  prevent  any  infraction  or 
neglect,  and  in  that  way  to  secure  the  success  of  the  in- 
cantation. Membership  in  such  associations  was  very  much 
coveted,  and  in  some  instances  was  hereditary.  One  can 
understand  the  difficulty  of  converting  such  people. 

A  glance  at  a  gambling  scene  may  also  help  us  to  appre- 
ciate another  of  the  trials  of  the  missionary  life  among  the 
Hurons.  Like  all  gambling,  even  among  civilized  people, 
there  was  superstition  connected  with  it.  The  favorite 
game  consisted  in  throwing  plum-stones  in  a  wooden  dish. 
Before  it  began,  nights  were  passed  in  consultation  in  order 
to  choose  the  best  player,  and  the  braves  fasted  and  abstained 
most  austerely,  so  as  to  obtain  favorable  dreams,  carefully 

293 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

carrying  all  the  objects  they  had  dreamed  about  to  the 
gambling  hell.  The  men  who  were  known  to  have 
especially  lucky  charms  on  their  person  were  placed  near 
the  players.  If  there  was  any  old  Indian  whose  presence 
might  give  good  luck,  he  was  carried  in  on  the  shoulders 
of  the  braves  and  given  a  seat  of  honor.  Even  the  Fathers, 
because  of  their  dignity  as  sorcerers,  were  invariably  asked 
to  pray  for  a  happy  result.  Finally,  the  two  chosen  gamblers 
face  each  other.  Above  them,  a  long  platform  has  been 
built,  and  stretched  out  on  it,  where  they  can  follow  every 
move  of  the  game  are  lines  of  men,  who  are  instructed  to 
invoke  their  demons  during  the  play,  and  to  make  menacing 
gestures  and  hurl  imprecations  at  the  demons  of  the  opposite 
side  so  as  to  frighten  them  off.  The  play  begins,  growing 
wilder  and  wilder  as  it  proceeds,  amid  the  shouts  and  yells 
of  the  spectators  and  the  excitement  of  the  gamblers  them- 
selves. Bags  of  tobacco,  robes,  shoes,  weapons,  everything 
is  staked  and  lost,  and  often  the  loser  goes  back  to  his 
lodge  in  the  snow,  "  as  naked  as  a  worm."  Unfortunately 
for  the  missionaries,  it  was  conceded  that  their  presence 
in  the  country  brought  bad  luck,  for  the  people  of  Ossossane, 
w^here  conversions  were  multiplying,  invariably  lost  the 
game.  Over  and  over  again,  the  missionaries  asked  the 
most  serious  men  in  the  village  to  summon  the  demon  of 
the  gambling  dish  or  the  dream  ceremonies  to  appear 
openly  for  a  talk;  but  they  never  succeeded  in  seeing  his 
Satanic  Majesty  or  any  of  his  imps. 

In  1645,  Lalemant  resigned  his  superiorship  into  the 
hands  of  Ragueneau;  and  without  knowing  if  he  would 
ever  reach  Quebec,  for  the  Iroquois  were  all  along  the 
river,  he  wrote  to  the  provincial  what  he  thought  about 
the  condition  of  things  in  Huronia,  affixing  it  to  his 
descriptions  of  their  funerals  and  gambling.  Fortunately 
he  is  very  chatty,  and  is  always  excusing  himself  for 
being  prolix,  but  his  fondness  for  writing  furnishes  us  with 
excellent  sketches  of  men  and  things  in  the  land  to  which 

294 


JERO:^lE  LALEAIANT. 

he  had  given  seven  years  of  his  Hfe,  and  which  he  was 
leaving  only  in  obedience  to  the  summons  of  his  superiors. 
We  shall  give  only  a  digest  of  the  long  account. 

"  When  I  arrived  in  Huronia,"  he  says,  "  the  pestilence 
was  at  its  height,  and  many  people  were  baptized  in  their 
last  moments.  It  was  fortunate  for  them,  but  hard  on 
those  who  survived,  for  the  one  or  two  Christian  families 
who  were  left  after  the  sickness  had  ceased,  scarcely  dared 
lift  their  heads.  In  the  popular  estimation,  they  were  the 
cause  of  the  misfortune.  They  were  also  the  chief  victims; 
for  pestilence,  famine  and  war  always  cut  a  wider  swath 
among  them  than  among  the  pagans.  In  a  single  instance, 
one  hundred  picked  warriors,  all  of  them  Christians,  were 
cut  off  to  a  man  by  the  Iroquois ;  and  disease  would  pass 
by  the  huts  where  the  missionaries  were  scoffed  at  and  ill- 
treated,  and  leave  the  homes  of  fervent  Christians  desolate. 
They  were  generally  also  the  poorest.  And  yet  in  spite  of 
all  this,  the  little  flock  grew  amazingly  both  in  numbers  and 
sanctity. 

"  I  know  no  people  on  earth  who  have  so  many  obstacles 
between  them  and  the  Faith.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  they 
have  no  writings,  and  no  traditions,  and  no  idea  of  God 
as  a  Creator,  and  no  conception  of  a  Divine  Providence, 
they  will  absolutely  not  submit  to  any  restraint  upon  their 
conduct.  A  father  has  no  control  over  his  children,  nor  a 
chief  over  his  warriors.  There  are  no  laws  in  the  country, 
except  those  you  choose  to  accept.  A  wretch  who  is  red 
with  a  score  of  murders  is  unmolested.  There  is  even  no 
punishment  for  a  man  who  betrays  his  countr}',  and  he  will 
actually  boast  of  having  instigated  the  most  disastrous  wars 
in  which  his  own  people  have  suffered  defeat.  Punish- 
ments for  crime  are  inflicted  on  the  public,  and  not  on  the 
culprit.  If  a  Huron  kills  an  Algonquin  or  one  of  his  own 
tribe,  the  whole  nation  meets  and  discusses  the  amount 
and  character  of  the  presents  to  be  given  to  the  family  of 
the  sufferer,  but  there  is  no  public  authority  to   enforce 

295 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

such  contributions  from  individuals.  Only  the  praise  ac- 
corded to  them  for  their  generosity  and  public  spirit  urges 
them  to  pay  their  quota. 

"  Moreover,  what  seems  to  the  savage  to  be  just  and 
equitable,  runs  directly  counter  to  the  teachings  of  Christian- 
ity. Thus  they  think  it  eminently  proper  to  dismiss  their 
•wives,  as  they  would  their  slaves,  and  the  women  also 
withdraw  if  the  fancy  seizes  them,  and  in  any  case  they 
are  at  liberty  to  consort  with  any  number  of  the  braves 
before  their  marriage  without  any  detriment  to  their  repu- 
tation. But  possibly  the  greatest  obstacle  to  their  conver- 
sion lies  in  the  fact  that  all  their  remedies  against  illness, 
all  their  recreations,  their  hunting  and  fishing,  their  business 
and  banquets,  are  involved  in  some  way  or  other  in  diabol- 
ical rites  and  ceremonies.  The  consequence  is  an  absolute 
exclusion  from  trade,  pleasure,  and  public  life  of  all  those 
who  profess  to  be  Christians. 

"  It  is  true  that  after  having  examined  all  their  super- 
stitions, we  cannot  find  any  of  the  assistance  which  the 
devil  is  supposed  to  give  them  which  may  not  be  explained 
by  natural  agencies,  but  nevertheless  they  firmly  believe  in 
the  Prince  of  Darkness;  they  have  recourse  to  him,  they 
invoke  him,  and  are  sure  he  speaks  to  them  in  dreams  and 
omens ;  they  sacrifice  to  him  and  offer  him  presents,  and 
refer  to  him  all  the  temporal  things  of  life.  They  do  not 
get  much  in  return,  but  it  does  not  shake  their  belief. 

"  If  lesser  difficulties  than  these  thwart  the  missionaries 
of  civilized  races,  if  the  gospel  is  accepted  by  people  only 
because  of  miracles,  the  gift  of  tongues,  prophecies  and  the 
like,  what  can  we  do  here  where  God  has  not  deigned  to 
work  miracles  to  advance  the  faith?  If,  at  least,  we  had 
somejtemporal  aid ;  if  the  French  would  only  establish  their 
authority  to  repress  the  outrages  against  common  decency 
which  go  on  before  our  eyes,  the  difficulty  would  be  con- 
siderably diminished.  But  in  spite  of  all  this,"  he  says  in 
conclusion,   "  I  must  testify,  now  that  I  am  going  a\A'ay, 

296 


JEROME   LALEMANT 

after  seven  years  work  among  them,  that  I  have  seen  as 
much  accompHshed  in  that  short  period  as  I  could  not  have 
dared  to  hope  for  at  the  end  of  a  long  life,  and,  perhaps, 
I  would  not  have  believed  it  if  I  had  not  seen  it  with  my  own 
eyes." 


297 


CHAPTER  III. 
Superior  in   Quebec. 

Although  Lalemant  returned  to  Quebec  in  1645,  he  should 
have  been  there  the  year  before,  but  the  first  letter  appoint- 
ing him  superior  never  reached  him.  It  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Indians,  who,  possibly  puzzled  over  its  hieroglyphics, 
which  were  always  a  profound  mystery  for  them,  or  per- 
haps made  use  of  the  paper  in  their  incantations. 
When  the  summons  at  last  came.  Achiendase,  as  Lalemant 
was  called,  put  the  last  touch  to  the  Huron  Catechism,  which 
we  are  told  was  drawn  from  the  "  Summa  "  of  St.  Thomas, 
and  started  down  the  river.  Whether  he  took  his  manu- 
script with  him  or  not,  we  do  not  know.  In  fact,  we  were 
unaware  that  his  name  was  on  the  long  list  of  missionaries 
who  have  left  literary  monuments,  until  we  saw  it  set  down 
m  the  Mss.  of  Father  Martin.  De  Backer  credits  him 
with  writing,  also,  "  Les  Principes  de  la  langue  Huronne." 

He  arrived  at  Three  Rivers  in  time  for  the  great  con- 
ference with  the  Mohawks,  at  which  Montmagny  presided. 
He  met  there  his  two  brethren,  Jogues  and  Bressani,  who 
had  returned  from  Europe  after  their  captivity,  and  saw 
Couture  enter  the  assembly  as  an  Iroquois  delegate.  When 
the  proceedings  ended,  he  went  down  to  Quebec,  and  began 
his  long  superiorship,  the  first  five  years  of  which  were 
one  continual  agony.  For  it  was  he  who  sent  Jogues  down 
to  the  Mohawk,  and  only  a  few  months  elapsed  when 
the  news  came  of  the  hero's  death.  At  the  same  time 
the  Iroquois  were  drawing  their  lines  closer  around  the 
upper  missions,  and  utter  ruin  seemed  inevitable.  In  1G46 
he  wrote  these  memorable  words :  "  We  shall  be  taken ; 
we  shall  be  burned;  we  shall  be  massacred.     But  that  is  a 

298 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

trifle.  One  s  bed  is  not  always  the  best  place  to  die  in.  I 
do  not  see  a  single  one  here  who  does  not  hold  his  head 
high.  They  are  all  begging  to  be  sent  to  the  Hurons, 
and  some  protest  that  it  is  the  fire  of  the  Iroquois  that  they 
covet."  In  16-18  came  the  news  of  Daniel's  bloody  death, 
and  then  the  tragedies  of  de  Brebeuf,  Lalemant,  Gamier 
and  Chabanel  were  announced.  The  crash  came  in  1650, 
and  when  he  held  in  his  hands  the  bones  of  his  nephew, 
Gabriel,  and  of  his  beloved  de  Brebeuf,  we  may  well  im- 
agine, but  may  not  attempt  to  describe  his  feelings.  He 
had  not  time  to  weep,  for  the  seven  hundred  Huron  fugi- 
tives, who  came  down  with  Ragueneau  had  to  be  provided 
for,  and  he  went  around  to  the  convents  and  the  houses  of 
the  colonists  to  beg  for  food  and  clothes.  The  Indians  were 
saved  from  starvation,  and  were  given  shelter  on  the  Jesuit 
farms  at  Beauport. 

As  soon  as  he  returned  from  Huronia  he  began  the 
famous  "  Journal  des  Jesuites,"  which  has  become  one  of 
the  curiosities  of  historical  literature.  It  is  nothing  but 
the  ordinary  diary  of  events  that  is  kept  in  every  Jesuit 
house,  but  for  that  very  reason  it  is  of  the  greatest  interest 
and  value.  This  particular  "  Journal "  has  on  its  title 
page:  "Journal  commence  1645,"  and  is  therefore  thought 
to  be  the  first  of  its  kind.  But  that  is  incorrect.  Vimont, 
Lalemant's  predecessor,  in  all  likelihood  kept  a  similar 
"Journal,"  but  unfortunately,  like  many  other  precious  docu- 
ments, it  has  been  lost. 

This  diary  of  course  was  never  intended  for  publication, 
for  it  is  always  a  private  and  personal  record  whose  con- 
tents are  not  even  known  by  the  members  of  the  community. 
It  is  intended  as  a  guide  for  future  superiors,  and  often  con- 
tains impressions  that  may  have  been  formed  about  individ- 
uals as  well  as  about  public  policies.  As  this  particular 
Journal  was  for  a  long  time  in  the  hands  of  others  who  might 
not  have  been  friendly,  interpolations  and  marginal  notes 
might  have  been  made  which  would  not  be  pleasant  to  have 

299 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

ascribed  to  those  who  never  wrote  them.  On  this  account  it 
would  naturally  have  to  be  submitted  for  revision  before 
giving  it  to  the  public,  i'ossibly  that  was  done,  but  the  dis- 
tinguished editors,  Laverdiere  and  Casgrain,  do  not  assure 
us  on  that  point.  On  the  contrary  they  seem  somewhat 
apprehensive  of  unpleasant  consequences,  and  warn  their 
readers  "  not  to  be  unjust  to  the  estimable  authors  of  the 
manuscript  or  the  persons  or  institutions  of  which  they 
speak  and  to  be  careful  not  to  take  too  seriously  what  was 
written  under  the  form  of  badinage  and  without  niauvaise 
intention." 

There  is  necessarily  a  personal  note  throughout  the 
"Journal."  Thus,  for  instance,  Lalemant  writes:  "When 
I  was  in  Montreal,  the  resolution  had  been  taken  to  build 
a  wooden  house  for  a  residence  and  all  the  timber  was 
ready,  but  the  ship  arrived  with  orders  from  France  to  build 
the  hospital.  Maisonneuve  found  it  difficult  to  explain  the 
situation  to  the  Fathers,  so  I  took  it  upon  myself.  But 
now  they  are  throwing  the  cat  at  my  legs  as  if  I  had  pre- 
vented the  work." 

We  have  sometimes  apparently  trivial  details,  as  for  in- 
stance : 

"  About  the  end  of  the  month  there  were  great  com- 
plaints about  certain  Hurons  wintering  at  Sillery,  for  hav- 
ing crept  into  the  windows  of  Gadois'  house  and  taken  some 
pieces  of  salt  pork  in  retaliation  for  his  having  robbed 
them  of  some  old  rags.  They  were  threatened  with  the 
Governor's  wrath  when  he  returned,  but  were  also  promised 
satisfaction  for  their  loss." 

In  another  note  we  read :  "  Madame  Giitard  took  some 
black  cloth  of  an  old  soutane  to  line  the  sleeves  of  another 
not  so  bad,  etc.  We  got  a  man  for  the  kitchen  to  day  to 
help  the  Brother,  who  had  too  much  to  do." 

"  To-day  Pierre  Goudron  arrived.  He  is  a  miller  or 
thinks  he  is." 

There  are  items  also  about  the  unhappiness  of  the  nuns, 

300 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

who  did  not  get  as  many  benedictions  as  they  wanted ;  tlie 
hopelessness  of  appointing  Father  Dablon  for  High  Mass, 
for  he  could  not  sing;  the  tricks  of  a  sharper  who  swindled 
the  Fathers  out  of  a  good  deal  of  money ;  the  arrival  of  a 
quack  doctor,  etc.  Among  other  records  we  have  an  ac- 
count of  the  midnight  Mass  on  Christmas  of  1645,  which  is 
worth  quoting,  as  it  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  musical  con- 
ditions that  prevailed  at  that  time  in  Quebec. 

"  The  first  bell  for  midnight  Mass,"  we  are  told,  "  rang 
at  11  o'clock;  the  second  a  little  before  half  past  eleven, 
and  then  they  began  to  sing  two  airs :  '  Venez  mon  Dieu  ' 
and  '  Chantons  Noel.'  Mons.  de  la  Ferte  took  the  bass, 
and  St.  Martin  played  the  violin.  There  was  also  a  Ger- 
man flute,  which  was  out  of  tune,  when  they  reached  the 
church.  A  little  before  midnight  we  sang  the  Te  Dcum, 
and  a  little  after,  a  signal  gun  was  fired,  and  Mass  began. 
The  pain  benit  was  distributed  just  as  the  priest  was  open- 
ing the  book.  It  was  the  first  time  in  many  years,  because 
of  the  quarrels  about  it. 

This  trouble  about  the  paUi  bciiit  which  was  made  use  of 
as  in  the  agapes  or  love  feasts  of  the  early  Christians,  forms 
a  curious  story  about  early  Quebec.  In  spite  of  the  name, 
there  was  not  much  brotherly  love  lost  in  this  recrudescence 
of  primitive  piety,  and  one  is  amazed  to  find  the  people 
who  W'Cre  fighting  for  their  life  on  that  desolate  rock, 
squabbling  like  children  about  a  gift  that  should  have  been 
a  symbol  of  union  and  peace. 

The  quarrel  was  revived  on  this  particular  Christmas,  in 
order  to  satisfy  the  devotion  of  the  taillandiers,  or  tool 
makers.  Mons.  le  Gouverneur  was  going  to  give  the  pain 
benit  on  the  following  Sunday,  and  in  order  to  avoid  hurting 
any  one's  feelings  it  was  to  be  offered  first  to  the  priest, 
and  then  to  the  governor,  and  afterwards  to  every  one  in- 
discriminately ;  the  distribution  taking  place  sometimes  at 
the  altar  and  sometimes  at  the  end  of  the  church.  The 
Christmas  ceremony  seemed  to  have  passed  off  smootly. 

301 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

but  on  New  Year's  Day,  when  the  governor  received  his 
portion,  the  question  arose:  Who's  next?  It  was  decided  to 
give  it  to  the  two  principal  trustees,  and  then  to  begin  on 
the  side  of  St.  Genevieve,  as  if  going  up  one  street  first, 
and  returning  by  another.  There  was  no  disturbance  then, 
but  before  Septuagesima,  Mme.  Marsolet,  whose  turn  had 
come  for  the  pain  benit,  sent  it  in,  all  wrapped  in  gauze  with 
candles  around  it  on  which  small  coins  were  hanging,  but, 
says  the  writer,  "  before  blessing  it  I  had  all  that  taken  off  so 
as  to  prevent  it  from  being  the  cause  of  jealousy  and 
vanity." 

There  is  one  entry  which  somewhat  takes  the  glow  off 
Montmagny's  glory,  great  as  he  was  in  other  respects. 
It  is  recorded  on  the  8th  of  January  that  the  Iroquois  had 
been  telling  how  an  arrangement  had  been  made  with  the 
governor,  who  agreed  that  the  Mohawks  could  make  war 
on  the  Algonquins,  provided  they  did  not  touch  the  Hurons 
and  French.  No  one  believed  it,  but  "  unfortunately,"  says 
the  chronicler,  who  forthwith  begins  to  write  in  Latin, 
"  there  is  a  foundation  for  it.  When  I  heard  it  I  went  to 
the  governor,  and  he  said  to  Father  de  Quen  and  myself 
that  in  the  preceding  summer,  when  the  Mohawk  envoys 
came  to  Three  Rivers  with  Couture,  one  of  their  chiefs, 
named  Crochet,  asked  for  a  private  interview,  which  was 
granted.  The  chief  said  that  he  had  a  splendid  present  to 
offer,  and  wanted  to  make  an  arrangement  about  fighting 
the  Algonquins.  The  governor  refused  to  look  at  the 
present,  and  told  the  Indian  that  such  a  thing  was  im- 
possible. Crochet  was  very  angry,  and  the  peace  which 
had  just  been  made  seemed  to  be  on  the  point  of  being 
broken,  whereupon  Montmagny  compromised,  and  agreed, 
on  condition  that  they  would  not  attack  the  Christian 
Algonquins." 

How  Christian  Algonquins  could  be  distinguished  in  a 
fight  from  their  pagan  relatives  is  hard  to  understand,  and 
the  concession  looks  like  a  deplorable  weakness  in  the  great 

303 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

man.  For  a  similar  desertion  of  the  allies,  de  Denonville, 
at  a  much  later  period,  was  cashiered  and  recalled  to  France. 
However,  remote  as  we  are  from  those  occurrences,  it 
is  perhaps  not  fair  to  judge  the  governor  as  guilty  of 
cowardice.  The  fate  of  the  colony  was  then  hanging  in  the 
balance. 

There  is  one  ugly  item  which  is  not  usually  found  in 
general  history ;  and  very  likely  it  is  a  solitary  instance  in  the 
annals  of  Canada.  We  are  told  that  in  March,  1646, 
"  Chrestionnot,  a  cook  at  Three  Rivers,  left  our  service  and 
was  put  in  the  fort,  but  he  behaved  himself  so  badly  there 
that  '  on  le  mit  sur  le  chevalet  on  il  se  rompit; '  that  is  to 
say,  he  was  broken  on  the  rack.  Of  course  that  punishment 
was  in  vogue  in  Europe  at  the  time,  and  the  New  Eng- 
enders used  it  much  later  in  Salem,  but  one  is  not  prepared 
for  it  in  Quebec. 

In  this  very  interesting  book  we  find  also  valuable 
records  of  Government  acts,  accounts  of  massacres, 
notes  about  journeys,  the  departure  of  ships,  etc.,  all  care- 
fully put  down,  day  by  day.  On  that  score  alone  the  "  Jour- 
nal "  is  of  inestimable  value,  for  the  *'  Relations  "  very  often 
leave  us  without  dates,  and  even  omit  the  names  of  Fathers 
who  are  sent  upon  missions  of  great  importance ;  and  in 
these  gaps,  the  "  Journal  "  comes  to  our  help,  and  guides 
us  through  what  would  otherwise  be  an  inextricable  tangle, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  supplies  us  with  an  excellent  picture 
of  the  social  life  of  Quebec  as  it  was  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago. 

Lalemant  kept  the  record  until  1650.  He  then  went 
to  Europe,  and  Ragueneau  took  his  place;  but  in  1651, 
Lalemant's  handwriting  appears  again  in  the  books.  In 
1656  he  was  a  second  time  called  abroad,  but  returning  with 
Laval,  in  1659,  he  resumed  the  "  Journal "  until  1665. 
Here  and  there,  however,  the  entries  are  in  the  handwriting 
of  de  Quen  and  Druillettes.  There  are  also  some  blank 
pages  from  time  to  time,  which  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 

303 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

records  having  been  written  on  other  paper,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  transcribing  them  later. 

This  interesting  book  was  found  after  the  death  of  Father 
Cazot,  the  last  Jesuit  in  Quebec.  It  then  disappeared  in 
the  general  scattering  of  the  papers,  and  was  discovered 
only  in  1815,  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Cochran,  the  Secretary  of 
Governor  Sherbrooke,  in  some  out  of  the  way  corner  of 
the  office.  Cochran  kept  it  until  1849,  and  his  widow  then 
gave  it  to  M.  Faribault,  who  bequeathed  it  in  his  will  to  the 
Seminary  of  Quebec.  In  1871  it  was  published  in  its 
present  form,  and  with  its  elaborate  Index  forms  a  large 
quarto  of  400  pages. 

Besides  this  diary,  which  ends  in  June,  1668,  we  discover 
in  the  inventory  of  Father  Cazot's  papers  that  there  were 
three  other  copy  books,  in  which  the  "  Journal  "  was  con- 
tinued up  to  the  year  1750.  The  first  of  these  books  goes 
as  far  as  1710,  and  we  are  told  it  had  the  following  title : 
"  The  Continuation  of  the  Registers  which  all  the  Rectors 
of  the  College  have  written  about  important  events  that 
have  happened  in  the  country  during  their  term  of  office, 
except  Father  Bigot,  who  during  six  years  wrote  nothing,^ 
so  that  Father  Bouvart,  who  immediately  succeeded  him,, 
wrote  his  records  in  the  book  bound  in  red.  We  are  now 
about  to  resume  it  in  the  one  bound  in  parchment,  in 
1710."  By  reference  to  the  catalogues  we  find  that  the 
Rector  in  1710  was  Father  Germain.  But  how  do  we  know 
that  the  diary  was  continued  after  that  year?.  Because 
Smith,  in  his  "  History  of  Canada  "  quotes  from  it,  with  re- 
gard to  events  which  occurred  in  1755.  Faribault  gives  us 
this  information,  and  tells  us  that  the  copy-books  formed  two 
large  volumes.  Where  they  are  nobody  knows.  Their 
discovery  would  be  of  great  historical  value. 

A  short  time  after  Lalemant's  arrival  at  Quebec,  the 
famous  Trading  Company  of  the  One  Hundred  Associates 
began  to  show  signs  of  dissolution.  Its  monopoly  had  nat- 
urally provoked  a  great  deal  of  discontent,  and  finally,  on 

304 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

March  6,  1645,  it  yielded  all  its  right  in  furs  to  an  associa- 
tion whose  headquarters  were  in  Montreal,  which  styled 
itself  the  "  Compagnie  des  Habitants."  With  what  appears 
to  be  amazing  generosity  to  itself,  the  One  Hundred  re- 
tained the  trade  of  Acadia,  Cape  Breton,  and  Miscou ; 
kept  its  hold  on  all  its  great  Scigneuries,  and  also  main- 
tained its  exclusive  right  to  name  the  governor  and  lieu- 
tenant governor,  as  well  as  the  judges  of  whatever  courts 
might  in  course  of  time  be  established.  It  also  saddled 
on  the  new  company  the  obligation  of  paying  the  salaries 
of  the  Government  officials,  supplying  ammunitions  of  war, 
keeping  the  forts  in  repair,  maintaining  at  least  one  hundred 
men  in  the  various  posts,  assuming  all  the  debts  of  the 
General  Company,  bringing  over  at  the  lowest  twenty 
colonists  every  year  from  Europe,  supporting  the  missions, 
and  giving  a  thousand  weight  of  beaver  skins  to  the  General 
Company  yearly. 

We  do  not  know  whether  the  rival  organization  acquitted 
itself  of  all  these  obligations,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it 
coined  so  much  money  that  the  officers  immediately  voted 
to  increase  their  own  salaries  ;  a  proposal  which  was  estopped 
by  Maisonneuve's  refusal  to  approve  of  it.  When  two 
companies  at  the  same  time  could  make  such  profit  as 
the  meeting  of  all  these  obligations  implies,  it  is  compre- 
hensible that  they  did  their  best  to  prevent  the  settlement 
of  Indians  on  reservations  where  they  could  be  civilized. 

The  quarrel  in  the  new  company,  and  the  dissatisfaction 
with  the  old,  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  Royal  Coun- 
cil, which  was  to  govern  the  colony,  and  thus  prevent  thos^ 
two  great  moneyed  interests  from  exercising  a  dangerous 
political  control.  This  Council  was  to  consist  of  first,  the 
Governor  of  the  entire  country;  second,  the  Superior  of 
the  Jesuits  until  the  arrival  of  a  bishop ;  third,  the  Governor 
of  Montreal.  In  the  "  Journal  des  Jesuites,"  there  is  a 
record  of  a  domestic  consultation  to  determine  whether 
the  Superior  of  the  Jesuits  should  accept  the  place.     It  was 

305 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

finally  decided  in  the  affirmative,  and  Lalemant  entered  upon 
its  duties.  The  obHg-ations  of  the  office  might  draw  on 
him  a  great  deal  of  odium,  but  he  displayed  such  skill  and 
prudence  in  the  performance  of  his  work  that  not  a  word 
was  ever  said  against  him,  whereas  his  successor,  Raguen- 
eau,  who  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  great  parts,  was 
removed  at  the  request  of  the  Jesuits  themselves. 

In  1648,  the  French  Government  gave  another  example 
of  the  fatuousness  which  almost  invariably  prompted  its 
direction  of  its  colony  in  the  New  World.  It  recalled  Mont- 
magny. 

After  Champlain,  there  was  no  greater  ruler  of  New 
France  than  Montmagny.  His  name  mons  magnus, 
or  Onontio,  as  the  Indians  called  him,  was  the  title  given 
to  all  subsequent  governors.  He  was  a  man  of  unusually 
devout  life,  and  being  a  Knight  of  Malta,  he  had  made  a 
vow  of  celibacy.  He  was  an  extremely  prudent  and  wise 
ruler,  and  kept  his  balance  perfectly  between  the  contending 
factions  of  those  early  days.  He  was  a  valiant  soldier,  and 
had  the  reputation  among  the  Indians  not  only  of  always 
keeping  his  word,  but  of  never  being  deceived  by  the  prom- 
ises of  the  politicians.  He  had  just  reached  a  period  in  his 
administration  when  the  colony  was  face  to  face  with  its 
greatest  crisis.  Daniel  had  been  slain ;  the  Iroquois  were 
closing  in  on  the  missions,  and  the  great  tribe,  which  had 
been  allied  with  the  French  from  the  beginning  was  on 
the  point  of  being  exterminated.  Yet,  merely  because  it 
was  not  considered  good  policy  to  leave  any  one  too  long 
in  office,  he  was  recalled.  The  great  man  sailed  for  France 
and  then  disappeared  from  view.  It  is  amazing  how  com- 
plete the  oblivion  is  that  shrouds  the  last  days  of  Onontio. 

Shortly  after  he  departed,  the  crash  came.  Six  of  the 
missionaries  were  killed,  and  the  scattered  remnants  of 
the  once  powerful  Hurons  drifted  down  to  Quebec  and 
had  to  be  saved  from  starvation  by  the  colonists,  who  them- 
selves were  in  woeful  straits  for  want  of  provisions.     The 

30G 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

Iroquois  were  so  successful  that  the  abandonment  of  the 
colony  was  seriously  contemplated.  It  could  not  hold  out 
much  longer  unless  help  arrived,  and  in  order  to  ob- 
tain it,  Lalemant,  after  sending  back  to  France  the  mis- 
sionaries for  whom  there  was  no  longer  any  possibility 
of  employment  among  the  Indians,  embarked  on  the 
last  vessel  that  left  Quebec  in  1650.  It  is  lugubriously 
noted  in  the  "  Journal  "  that  it  was  November  2,  le  jon- 
des  morts.  Reading  further,  we  find  that  he  was  not  able 
to  return  until  October  24  of  the  following  year.  When 
he  came  back,  the  new  Governor,  de  Lauson,  was  on  the 
ship  with  him. 

During  the  next  six  years  of  his  Superiorship  tragic 
events  followed  quickly  on  each  other.  Father  Buteux  was 
killed  by  the  savages  on  the  St.  Maurice  in  1G52.  On  the 
19th  of  August  of  the  same  year,  Du  Plessis,  the  Com- 
mandant of  Three  Rivers  and  thirteen  of  his  men  were 
massacred.  At  Montreal,  only  the  heroism  of  Lambert 
Closse,  who,  with  a  handful  of  men  beat  back  two  hundred 
Iroquois,  saved  that  colony  from  annihilation.  In  May  of 
the  following  year,  the  Mohawks  beset  Three  Rivers  and 
would  have  taken  it,  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  a  detach- 
ment of  men  from  Quebec,  who  were  pursuing  the  Indians 
who  had  come  up  to  the  very  walls  of  Quebec  and  had 
carried  off  Father  Poncet  into  captivity.  There  was  some 
relief  when  Maisonneuve  arrived  with  one  hundred  sol- 
diers, most  of  whom,  however,  lost  their  lives  subsequently 
in  fighting  the  savages,  and  finally  a  plot  was  discovered 
to  detach  the  remnants  of  the  Hurons  from  their  ancient 
allegiance  to  the  French.  The  prospects  were  never  darker 
in  New  France. 

Just  then,  however,  for  reasons  which  no  one  could  un- 
derstand, the  most  powerful  of  the  Iroquois  Federation,  the 
Onondagas,  not  only  asked  for  peace,  but  also  for  the 
establishment  of  a  French  colony  in  their  territory.  There 
was  every  reason  for  fearing  it  was  only  a  ruse,  but  Father 

307 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

4 

Le  Aloyne  went  down  among  them,  and  returned  with  the 
report  that  the  proposition  was  sincere.  Dablon  and  Chau- 
monot  followed  him,  and  in  1656,  fifty  Frenchmen  estab- 
lished a  post  on  Lake  Ganentaa,  near  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Syracuse. 

In  that  year  Lalemant  was  recalled  to  France  ostensibly 
for  family  matters,  but  probably  to  let  his  superiors  study 
him  more  closely  in  view  of  another  appointment.  He 
knew  nothing  of  their  intentions,  and  it  must  have  caused 
him  no  little  astonishment  when,  in  1658,  he  was  made 
Rector  of  the  Royal  College  of  La  Fleche.  He  had  been 
seven  years  among  the  savages  of  Lake  Huron ;  he  had 
suffered  ten  years  of  agony  as  superior  at  Quebec,  at  a 
period  when  the  whole  structure,  which  had  been  reared 
with  such  an  awful  expenditure  of  labor  and  blood,  was 
falling  about  his  ears,  and  he  was  now  summoned  to  pre- 
side over  one  of  the  greatest  educational  establishments 
in  France.  His  American  experience  had  evidently  not 
diminished  either  his  refinement  of  manner  or  the  strictness 
of  his  religious  observance. 

La  Fleche  was  established  by  Henry  IV,  in  one  of  his 
ancestral  chateaux,  and  as  it  had  been  the  home  of  his  boy- 
hood, he  was  much  attached  to  it.  The  old  wood-cuts, 
of  it  remind  one  of  Versailles,  with  its  park,  its  elaborate 
gardens  and  stately  avenues.  Before  it  is  the  placid  Loire, 
while  another  stream  runs  along  the  right  of  the  domain. 
The  chateau  itself  was  about  the  only  building  of  importance, 
for  in  the  seventeenth  century,  La  Fleche  was  only  a  village, 
and  even  to-day,  if  you  took  away  some  of  the  dwellings  of 
the  rich  that  have  clustered  there,  and  the  college,  which  is 
now  no  longer  a  Jesuit  establishment,  and  also  the  religious 
institutions,  you  would  have  scarcely  anything  left.  It 
could  not  have  ever  been  very  populous,  but  in  that  secluded 
place  the  King  resolved  to  establish  a  great  university ;  and 
for  that  end  poured  out  his  treasures  so  lavishly  that  the 
Royal  Treasurer  protested.     Indeed,  the  monarch  spent  so 

308 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

much  on  the  structure,  that  in  order  to  get  money  for  its 
upkeep,  he  had  to  apply  to  the  Pope  to  employ  the  revenues 
of  an  old  Priory  nearby  which  had  been  founded  by  Geoffrey 
Plantagenet  in  1130;  and  also  of  a  somewhat  disused  mon- 
astery which  was  then  inhabited  by  a  few  monks  of  St. 
Bernard. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  the  only  college  in  France, 
except  Louis  le  Grand,  that  ever  had  sufficient  revenues  to 
support  it.  The  Jesuits  had  educational  institutes  all  over 
the  country,  but  with  the  exception  of  these  two,  none  were 
adequately  endowed ;  and  it  comes  as  a  surprise  to  hear 
that  in  those  golden  days,  which  are  so  much  extolled,  a 
school  like  Toulouse,  for  instance,  which  needed  20,000  livres 
a  year,  had  in  reality  only  5,800;  that  Bordeaux,  which 
called  for  the  same  amount  had  no  more  than  9,000,  and 
so  on  through  the  list.  They  were  all  in  debt,  badly  fur- 
nished, and  ill-suited  for  educational  requirements.  Even 
the  community  was  often  poorly  clothed,  and  in  some  cases 
the  brethren  had  to  borrow  each  other's  clothes  to  go  out. 
It  is  a  good  commentary  on  the  Society's  alleged  wealth. 
But  it  would  never  do  to  have  the  royal  college  of  La 
Fleche  in  such  straits,  even  if  the  Pope  had  to  pay  for  it 
by  sacrificing  other  foundations  ;  and  so  the  necessary  20,000 
livres  were  annually  paid  into  its  exchequer.  We  find  these 
interesting  facts  in  the  "  Recherches  Historiques  "  of  Father 
Prat. 

A  glimpse  of  what  was  done  at  La  Fleche  may  be  of  in- 
terest. It  opened  with  nineteen  professors  in  1603,  and  had 
forty-two  in  1011.  From  that  out,  till  the  suppression  of  the 
Society  in  France  in  1762,  the  number  varied  from  eighty  to 
one  hundred  and  ten.  This,  of  course,  included  tutors  or 
repetiteurs,  among  whom  were  men  like  Noel,  the  intimate 
friend  of  Descartes ;  de  Rienne,  the  famous  physicist  of 
those  days ;  Vavassour,  whose  name  looms  large  in  French 
Belles  Lettres ;  Gresset,  already  famous  for  his  Vert  vert, 
Jouvency,  Charlevoix,  and  others  equally  famous.     Among 

309 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

its  surveillants  we  find  the  names  of  Pierre  Pi j art,  Gabriel 
Lalemant,  Rene  de  Gamache,  the  founder  of  the  College 
of  Quebec;  Claude  Dablon;  de  la  Place;  Bonin;  Simon  Le 
Moyne  and  others. 

There  were  usually  about  five  hundred  pupils  in  the  col- 
lege, representing  the  greatest  families  in  the  realm ;  dukes 
and  counts  and  princes.  There  were  La  Valettes,  de 
Rohans,  d'Armagnacs,  de  la  Rochefoucaulds,  and  notable 
on  the  list  because  of  what  is  now  going  to  enter  into  the 
life  of  Lalemant  there  was  the  future  Bishop  of  Quebec, 
Frangois  de  Montmorency  Laval-de  Montigny.  The  new 
rector  was  installed  in  September,  1658.  He  was  then  more 
than  sixty-three  years  of  age. 


'310 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Vicar  General. 

Scarcely  had  Lalemant  entered  upon  his  duties  as  Rector 
of  La  Fleche,  than  he  was  asked  for  as  Vicar  General  by 
Laval,  who  had  just  been  assigned  to  the  Bishopric  of 
Quebec.  To  that  request  Father  Nickel,  the  General  of  the 
Society  strenuously  objected :  "  His  Illustrious  Lordship 
de  Laval  de  Montigny,  the  future  Bishop  of  Canada,  he 
said,  "  must  bear  with  us,  if  we  cannot  comply  with  his 
desire.  There  are  others  who  can  be  of  help  to  him  in  the 
office  to  which  he  refers.  He  is  unaware  that  Father 
Lalemant  has  just  been  appointed  Rector  of  La  Fleche." 

The  answer  did  not  satisfy  Laval.  He  urgently  re- 
quested the  Provincial,  Father  Renault,  to  insist  upon  it, 
and  before  the  answer  came  he  himself  had  appealed  to 
the  General,  and  Father  Nickel  finally  consented  to  grant 
what  Laval  assured  him  would  be  a  great  favor.  He  had 
met  Lalemant  in  Paris,  and  fully  agreed  with  Father  Le 
Jeune,  who  had  written  to  the  General  in  October  as  fol- 
lows :  **  I  say  very  frankly  that  there  is  no  one  better  suited 
for  the  office,  especially  in  the  actual  conditions  of  the 
colony.  He    is   strong,    strenuous,    prudent    and    pious. 

Whether  we  consider  the  Abbe  de  Queylus,  or  the  Governor, 
or  the  Bishop,  there  is  no  one  who  can  manage  matters 
with  greater  prudence  than  Father  Lalemant." 

Lalemant  was  delighted  to  return  to  America,  especially 
with  Laval,  whom  he  described  as  "  one  who  had  the  ap- 
pearance and  at  the  same  time  the  power  of  an  angel." 
But  doubtless,  if  the  choice  were  given  him,  he  would  have 
preferred  to  go  out  among  the  Indians  than  to  remain  at 
Quebec.  He  was  fully  aware  of  the  trouble  in  store  for 
him,  but  he  hastened  to  obey.     "  I  left  La  Fleche  on  the 

311 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

10th  of  April,"  he  wrote  the  General,  "and  I  was  at 
Rochelle  the  next  day,  which  was  Easter  Sunday ;  and  on 
the  same  day  I  was  on  board  the  ship  with  the  Illustrious 
Bishop  of  Petroea.  We  reached  Quebec  on  the  16th  of 
June  after  a  prosperous  voyage.  There  the  Bishop  was  re- 
ceived as  an  angel  of  God." 

His  judgment  of  the  Bishop  was  shared  by  all  the  Fathers 
at  yuebec.  Le  Mercier,  writing  to  the  General,  calls  Laval 
'*  a  man  of  thorough  sanctity."  Ragueneau  styles  him  "  an 
apostolic  man,  after  God's  own  heart,  who  is  not  seeking 
self  but  Jesus  Christ;"  and  de  Quen  declares  that  "  he  fills 
all  our  hopes  and  longings."  The  public  reception  given 
to  the  Bishop  was  as  splendid  as  the  circumstances  would 
allow,  but  he  must  have  already  perceived  an  under  current 
of  opposition  which  was  to  give  him  no  end  of  trouble. 

Lalemant's  own  return  was  a  cause  of  great  rejoicing. 
IMarie  de  ITncarnation,  writes  that  it  was  a  blessing  for  the 
whole  country.  His  absence  in  Europe  had  left  a  void 
which  no  one  was  able  to  fill,  and  Ragueneau  found  that 
""  no  one  possesses  to  an  equal  degree  the  gift  of  governing; 
especially  as  experience  and  sanctity  has  softened  the  asper- 
ity which  was  remarked  in  him  when  he  was  younger." 
The  observation  is  valuable  as  an  explanation  of  the  sudden- 
ness with  which  he  set  about  revolutionizing  everything  in 
the  missions  in  the  early  years  before  he  had  scarcely  time  to 
look  around,  and  making  arrangements  which  were  sub- 
sequently abandoned.  Dablon,  Druillettes,  Pijart,  Le  Mer- 
cier and  others  all  wrote  to  thank  the  General  for  sending 
him  back.  Great  as  his  energy  and  influence  might  have 
been,  however,  it  can  scarcely  be  admitted,  as  a  recent 
writer  declares,  that  from  that  out,  on  account  of  Lale- 
mant's withdrawal  from  the  post  of  Superior,  the  work 
of  the  missions  languished.  The  fact  is  that  they  were 
never  in  a  worse  condition  than  when  he  was  in  charge, 
though  the  fault  should  not  be  ascribed  to  him.  A  dozen 
Lalemants  could  not  have  restored  them  to  their  former 

312 


JEROME  LALEMANT. 

vigor,  nor  could  he  have  inaugurated  new  enterprises.  What 
was  needed  was  not  a  priest,  but  a  Governor  with  some  sense 
and  plenty  of  soldiers.  The  Indians  themselves  saw  that, 
and  at  the  very  first  reception  given  to  Lalemant  and  Laval, 
an  old  chief  said  to  both  of  the  dignitaries :  "  You  will 
never  reach  the  other  Indians  until  you  crush  the  Iroquois." 
Nor  did  this  crushing  process  mean  that  indiscriminate 
slaughter  had  to  be  resorted  to ;  for  nine  years  afterwards, 
de  Tracy  merely  burned  a  few  old  villages  on  the  Mohawk, 
without  killing  a  single  Indian,  and  there  was  an  uninter- 
rupted peace  of  fifteen  years. 

Lalemant's  office  of  vicar  general  launched  him  on  a  sea 
of  troubles,  but  he  himself  to  a  certain  extent  was  responsible 
for  some  of  it.  A  course  of  action  which  had  to  be 
adopted  six  years  before  caused  the  first  storm.  It  was 
about  the  matter  of  episcopal  jurisdiction.  From  the  begin- 
ning of  the  missions  the  Jesuits  derived  their  ecclesiasiical 
faculties  from  Rome,  but  about  the  year  1040,  the  Bishop 
of  Rouen  got  it  into  his  head  that  Quebec  was  part  of  his 
diocese,  for  the  reason  that  a  certain  number  of  ships  left 
from  the  port  of  that  city  for  Canada.  It  might  have  be- 
longed to  many  other  cities  for  a  similar  reason,  but  never- 
theless, he  was  sustained  in  his  contention  by  substantially 
the  whole  episcopate  of  France.  It  followed  as  a  necessary 
consequence,  if  the  claim  was  w^ell  founded,  that  the  Jesuits 
of  Canada,  not  having  faculties  from  him,  were  unlawfully 
administering  the  sacraments. 

Indeed,  acting  on  that  presumption,  the  Abbe  de  Queylus, 
a  distinguished  Sulpitian,  had  fifteen  years  previously  pre- 
sented himself  in  Quebec  as  the  vicar  general  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rouen.  As  his  claims  were  not  allowed,  he  naturally 
returned  home  very  much  chagrined ;  but  his  visit  had  the 
effect  of  disturbing  the  consciences  of  the  Jesuits,  and  it 
was  determined  to  send  Vimont  to  consult  the  theologians 
of  France.  He  started  in  1647,  merely  informing  the 
General  that  he  was  returning  to  Europe  upon  matters  of 

313 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

importance.  Doubtless  there  were  other  things  that  re- 
quired his  personal  attention,  but  one  is  prompted  to  inquire 
why  this  matter  of  jurisdiction  was  not  set  at  rest  by  a 
simple  letter  to  his  Paternity.  As  far  as  we  can  make  out, 
that  was  not  done.  Arriving  in  France,  Vimont  put  the 
matter  before  his  brethren,  and  it  was  decided  that  if  it  did 
not  do  any  good  it  would  not  do  any  harm  to  ask,  in  ad- 
dition to  their  papal  faculties,  authorization  from  the  Bishop 
of  Rouen,  who  was  immensely  pleased  to  grant  them, 
and  made  the  Superior  of  the  Jesuits  of  Quebec  ipso  facto 
his  vicar  general.  But  when  the  general  was  informed  of 
it,  he  sent  a  tart  letter  to  Father  Lalemant  telling  him  that 
the  claims  of  the  Bishop  were  without  foundation.  The 
receipt  of  this  communication  may  explain  the  subsequent 
silence  of  the  Fathers  about  their  faculties. 

Unfortunately,  in  1053,  when  Lalemant  was  still  in 
charge,  an  order  came  from  the  Bishop  of  Rouen  to  pro- 
claim the  Jubilee  of  Innocent  X.  To  do  so  was  to  admit 
the  Bishop's  jurisdiction.  Lalemant  however,  obeyed,  and 
announced  that  "  the  Bishop  of  Rouen  had  full  authority 
in  the  French  Colony."  He  was  evidently  taken  to  task 
for  this  action  also,  and  in  the  ''  Journal  des  Jesuites  "  we 
find  him  giving  his  reasons  for  so  doing.  They  are : 
"  First — The  Bishop  had  sent  letters  patent  to  the  French 
Assistant  of  the  Society  in  Rome,  which  were  forwarded  to 
Quebec  by  episcopal  order.  Second — The  Bishop  had  or- 
dained a  young  man  who  had  lived  ten  years  in  Canada, 
on  the  ground  that  Canada  was  in  his  jurisdiction.  Third — 
He  had  ordered  an  inquiry  into  the  life  and  virtues  of  the 
missionaries  who  had  been  killed.  Fourth — The  Governor 
had  been  consulted,  and  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  procla- 
mation of  the  Jubilee  should  be  made.  Fifth — There  were 
grave  doubts  about  the  right  of  the  missionaries  to  receive 
the  religious  professions  of  the  nuns  without  the  Bishop's 
authorization."  So  that  if  a  mistake  was  made,  it  was  not 
due  to  levity  or  precipitation. 

314 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

During  all  this  time,  a  movement  had  been  going  on  to 
provide  Quebec  with  a  bishop  of  its  own;  an  arrangement 
which  would  have  solved  the  difficulty  altogether.  But  the 
Bishop  of  Rouen  protested  against  any  such  division  of  his 
diocese.  While  the  battle  was  in  progress,  M.  de  Queylus 
arrived  in  Quebec  with  the  appointment  as  vicar 
general  in  his  hand.  That  was  two  years  before  the 
coming  of  Laval.  De  Queylus,  as  he  had  been  directed, 
presented  his  papers  to  Father  de  Quen,  who  was  then 
superior,  but  who.  instead  of  asking  if  his  own  appointment 
had  been  revoked,  and  falling  back  in  case  it  was  on  his 
faculties  from  the  Pope,  very  unwisely  said  nothing.  In- 
deed, it  does  not  appear  that  de  Queylus  was  aware  of  the 
appointment  of  de  Quen  by  the  Bishop  of  Rouen,  and  he 
forthwith  began  to  exercise  his  powers  with  his  accustomed 
vigor,  and  appointed  the  Jesuit  Father  Poncet,  parish  priest 
of  Quebec,  with  instructions,  however,  to  administer  the 
parish  with  due  subjection  to  his  religious  superior.  This 
Poncet  did  not  do,  and  was  consequently  summarily  re- 
moved by  de  Quen.  Whereupon  de  Queylus  hurried  back 
from  Montreal  whither  he  had  gone  with  some  other  Sul- 
pitians  to  found  the  Seminary ;  and  began  what  Father  Pijart 
describes  as  "  an  Iroquois  war  against  the  Jesuits."  He 
withdrew^  from  them  all  faculties  in  the  parish  church,  ques- 
tioned the  validity  of  the  marriages  they  had  performed, 
accused  them  of  trafficking  in  peltries,  denounced  them  for 
not  living  as  religiously  as  in  France,  and  sent  his  com- 
plaints to  the  Father  General,  who  returned  them  to  de 
Quen  and  asked  for  information. 

Meantime  de  Quen  had  written  to  Rouen,  and  was  told 
that  he  was  still  vicar  general  at  Quebec,  while  the  juris- 
diction of  de  Queylus  was  restricted  to  Montreal.  This 
brought  peace  for  a  time.  Finally  in  1659  Laval  arrived, 
and  de  Queylus  hurried  down  to  make  his  submission.  But 
he  was  unaware  that  the  Bishop  of  Rouen  was  still  thun- 
dering against  Laval,  and  had  on  May  11,  1659,  received 

315 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  decree  from  Louis  XIV,  in  virtue  of  which  de  Queylus 
was  to  be  Vicar  of  Montreal,  and  that  such  instructions 
were  being  forwarded  to  him  personally.  But  as  some  one 
had  made  haste  to  explain  to  His  Majesty  that  he  had  com- 
mitted a  grievous  blunder  by  his  interference,  the  first  letter 
was  revoked,  and  Laval  was  advised  of  the  royal  change 
of  heart.  Not  knowing  this,  de  Queylus,  on  receiving  his 
letter,  hurried  again  to  Quebec  to  claim  his  rights,  but  to 
his  amazement  was  confronted  with  the  second  letter  to 
Laval.  In  disgust  he  started  for  France  on  October  22d, 
and  in  the  interest  of  peace  a  royal  order  was  procured 
prohibiting  the  Abbe's  return  to  America. 

But  the  merry  war  still  continued.  In  spite  of  episcopal 
and  royal  injunctions,  de  Queylus  obtained  a  decree  from 
the  Dataria  in  Rome,  authorizing  him  to  establish  an  inde- 
pendent parish  in  Montreal.  Armed  with  this  document, 
he  presented  himself  at  Quebec  in  16(31,  and  at  the  same  time 
handed  to  Laval  an  order  from  the  Bishop  of  Rouen 
directing  his  Lordship  to  betake  himself  to  Montreal  and 
inaugurate  the  parish.  Rouen  still  claimed  Quebec,  and 
even  the  nuns  were  wondering  if  the  Grand  Vicaire  of 
Rouen  was  not  a  greater  personage  than  a  mere  Vicar  Apos- 
tolic, whose  diocese  was  f;r  partihiis  infidclium;  for  Laval 
was  not  yet  Bishop  of  Quebec,  but  only  of  Petrcea,  and  no- 
body knew  where  that  was.  Laval,  however,  was  sure  of  his 
position  and  excommunicated  de  Queylus,  who,  instead  of 
submitting,  slipped  off  in  a  canoe  that  night  for  Montreal. 
Tie  remained  there  until  the  Governor  himself  had  to  go 
after  him  and  order  him  to  return  to  Europe;  all  of  which 
was  very  edifying  for  the  laity. 

Seven  years  after  that,  namely,  in  1668,  de  Queylus  again 
appeared  in  America,  this  time  as  Superior  of  the  Sulpitians, 
who  were  desirous  of  undertaking  missionary  work  among 
the  Indians.  Laval,  to  efface  the  memory  of  the  past, 
received  him  with  benignity,  but  unfortunately  made  him 
Vicar  General  of  Montreal.     That  meant  ten  years  more 

316 


JEROME    LALEMANT. 

of  turmoil,  which  ended  only  when  the  restless  de  Queylus 
returned  to  France  and  remained  there.  He  was,  never- 
theless, regarded  as  a  holy  man. 

Before  Lalemant  arrived  in  Quebec  in  1659,  the  new 
Governor,  d'Argenson,  had  been  installed.  He  had  been 
received  with  great  honor  by  the  Jesuits,  had  dined  with 
the  community,  assisted  at  Vespers,  and  in  the  evening 
was  led  to  the  school  hall  where  the  students  gave  him  a 
reception.  The  future  looked  bright,  but  alas !  the  hopes 
were  not  realized.  However,  if  the  great  man  was  not 
pleased  with  his  hosts,  he  must  have  been  delighted  with 
the  efforts  of  the  young  collegians. 

The  academic  exercises  which  they  gave  in  his  honor 
w^ere,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  first  of  their  kind  in  this  part 
of  the  New  World,  and  they  must  have  astonished  his  Ex- 
cellency. Given  the  rawness  of  the  scholars,  the  disturbed 
condition  of  the  social,  political,  and  even  religious  life  of 
the  colony,  the  results  achieved  are  astonishing.  They 
presented  a  drama  which  had  been  composed  for  the  oc- 
casion, and  which,  though  bearing  the  imprint  of  the  Old 
World,  was  invested  with  all  the  local  color  that  was 
obtainable  with  the  scant  means  at  their  disposal. 

One  lad  appeared  costumed  as  the  Genius  of  New  France ; 
another  as  the  Genius  of  the  Forest,  and  the  rest  as  wild 
men  of  the  woods.  In  a  very  complimentary  discourse  the 
Genius  of  New  France  presented  his  retinue  of  Indians  to 
the  Governor.  Then  four  other  actors  in  the  role  of 
French  colonists  unburdened  their  hearts  in  classic  verse. 
When  they  had  ended,  a  Huron  chief  appeared,  deplored 
the  ruin  of  his  people,  and  appealed  to  d'Argenson  for  aid, 
while  in  opposition  to  him  an  Algonquin  advanced  on  the 
stage,  extolled  his  own  courage,  and  in  scornful  tones  pro- 
tested that  he  would  be  ashamed  to  lament  like  a  Huron. 
But  here  the  Genius  of  the  Forest  bursts  upon  the  scene, 
with  his  retinue  of  savages  clamoring  in  their  various  lan- 
guages for  help ;  appeals  which  the  Genius  of  the  Forest 

317 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

translated.  Then  two  Indians  who  had  just  escaped  from 
the  Iroquois  entered,  and  in  piteous  tones  implored  as- 
sistance in  their  troubles.  Finally,  all  gathered  around  the 
great  man,  laid  their  bows  and  arrows  at  his  feet,  and  pro- 
claimed him  chief. 

The  suggestion  would  have  been  enough  for  any  ordinary 
man,  yet  d'Argenson  never  did  anything  for  the  natives.  He 
was  too  busy  with  petty  squabbles  at  Quebec.  None  of  the 
Jesuits  pleased  him  except  Lalemant.  To  smooth  matters 
Laval  had  a  heart  to  heart  talk  with  him  which  only  irritated 
him  the  more.  Thinking  it  would  be  of  help,  the  bishop 
wrote  to  d'Argenson's  brother  asking  his  co-operation  in 
removing  the  Governor's  prejudice,  but  according  to  Tuttle, 
in  his  "  History  of  the  Dominion,"  d'Argenson  wrote  at 
the  same  time  complaining  of  the  bishop,  and  saying  that 
Lalemant  and  Laval  were  at  odds  upon  grave  questions.  It 
is  not  likely  that  so  prudent  a  vicar  general  would  quarrel 
with  his  ecclesiastical  superior,  and  endanger  his  own  head. 
Meantime  the  fight  grew  hot  between  the  bishop  and  the 
governor;  the  churchman  insisting  on  certain  things  that 
the  soldiers  should  do  in  ecclesiastical  processions,  and  the 
civilian  demanding  that  his  chair  should  be  in  a  certain 
place  in  the  church,  that  he  should  receive  incense  before  the 
others,  etc.  All  the  while  the  Iroquois  were  prowling 
around  the  walls,  and  were  so  menacing  that  sentinels  had 
to  be  posted  in  the  convent  grounds  to  prevent  a  raid. 

Between  his  two  friends,  the  bishop  and  the  governor, 
Lalemant  tried  to  keep  his  balance.  He  confesses  that  he 
was  almost  distracted ;  and  things  came  to  such  a  pass  that 
he  could  not  invite  them  simultaneously  to  the  scholastic 
exercises  of  the  college,  or  even  to  church  functions.  It 
looked  like  deserting  the  bishop,  but  the  course  was  adopted 
with  the  prelate's  approval.  Added  to  his  troubles  in 
Quebec,  the  governor  had  others  in  Montreal.  "  The 
people  there,"  he  wrote,  "  want  to  monopolize  the  fur  trade, 
and  if  the  King  does  not  intervene  we  shall  have  civil  war/' 

318 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

Civil  war  between  colonists  who  had  all  they  could  do  to 
save  their  scalps  from  the  Iroquois !  If  d' Argenson  uttered 
such  a  sentiment,  the  only  authority  for  which,  as  far  as 
we  can  make  out,  is  Tuttle,  he  was  clearly  not  fitted  for  his 
position.  At  all  events  it  was  a  great  relief  to  everyone 
when  he  returned  to  France. 

Ever  since  Champlain's  time  it  had  been  a  mooted  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  or  not  liquor  should  be  given  to  the 
Indians.  They  had  an  inordinate  thirst  for  it,  and  would 
hunt  the  continent  for  peltries,  in  order  to  be  able  to  buy 
a  flask  of  fire-water.  Of  course  they  had  no  idea  of  moder- 
ation, and  when  the  casks  were  opened  an  Indian  village 
was  a  hell.  Men,  women  and  children,  stark  naked  and 
raving  drunk,  indulged  in  all  sorts  of  excesses,  set  fire  to 
their  houses  and  murdered  each  other  indiscriminately. 
Prohibition  never  had  a  better  case  and  the  ecclesiastics 
stood  out  for  it,  though  one  Protestant  writer  pharisaically 
accuses  them  of  using  wine  at  their  own  tables.  The 
traders,  of  course,  were  for  the  open  shop.  The  bishop  ex- 
plained, entreated,  expostulated  and  finally  resorted  to  cen- 
sures and  excommunications,  and  the  Jesuits  were  accused 
of  egging  him  on.  Such  was  not  the  general  impression, 
but  it  was  easier  to  attack  them  than  the  bishop.  Paris  was 
in  great  excitement  about  it.  Colbert,  who  had  his  boys 
at  the  Jesuit  schools,  and  who  thanked  the  General  of  the 
Society  "  passionately,"  as  he  said  himself,  "  for  the  good 
that  had  been  done  to  his  sons,"  angrily  protested  that  the 
bishop  and  the  Jesuits  were  too  severe  in  their  exactions. 
France  was  flooded  with  pleas  for  both  sides,  and  finally 
Laval  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  explain  the  situation.  The 
matter  was  finally  submitted  to  the  moralists  to  decide,  and 
the  action  of  the  bishop  in  inflicting  such  grievous  penalties 
for  the  sale  of  liquor  was  debated.  Finally  a  compromise 
was  arrived  at,  and  it  was  decreed  that  no  liquor  could  be 
carried  out  into  the  woods  to  be  given  or  sold  to  the  savages, 
but  its  sale  was  not  prohibited  in  the  settlements. 

319 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  pubHc  life  when  d'Avaugour 
arrived  as  governor.  He  was  a  stern,  inflexible  man,  un- 
duly conscious  of  his  own  rectitude,  and  a  stern  supporter 
of  the  bishop  in  enforcing  the  liquor  law.  Parkman  says 
that  a  few  weeks  after  his  arrival,  two  men  were  shot  and 
one  was  whipped  for  breaking  the  law.  If  such  were  the 
case  it  was  not  merely  "  good  nature  or  humanity,"  as  Park- 
man  describes  it,  that  induced  Father  Lalemant  to  seek  out 
the  governor,  to  plead  for  a  poor  woman  who  had  been 
arrested  for  a  similar  offense.  D'Avaugour  could  have  sim- 
ply told  Lalemant  that  he  had  done  his  duty  as  a  priest,  but 
that  the  law  must  take  its  course.  Unhappily,  however,  the 
governor  entered  into  a  towering  rage,  and  thundered  out : 
"  You  and  your  brethren  were  the  first  to  cry  out  against 
the  traffic,  and  now  you  want  to  save  the  traders  from  pun- 
ishment. If  it  is  not  wrong  for  a  w^oman,  it  is  not  wrong 
for  a  man  to  sell  liquor,  and  henceforward  I  shall  let  ever>'- 
one  do  as  he  likes." 

Such  an  utterance  from  the  ruler  of  a  commonwealth 
was  little  short  of  insanity.  The  consequences  were  ter- 
rible. "  My  ink  is  not  black  enough  to  describe  what  is 
going  on,"  writes  Lalemant.  "  In  one  month  we  have  lost 
all  that  the  labors  of  ten  or  twenty  years  have  accomplished." 
The  Indians  relapsed  into  former  conditions,  and  ran  amuck 
even  in  the  streets  of  Quebec  with  tomahawks  and  fire- 
brands. Laval  hurried  across  the  water  to  ask  for  an- 
other governor,  and  was  permitted  to  choose  the  one  he 
wished.  He  made  the  mistake  of  his  life  when  he  picked  out 
the  incompetent  de  Mesy,  and  started  for  America.  Indeed, 
misfortune  followed  them  all  the  way  over.  They  were 
more  than  three  months  on  the  ocean,  and  ship-fever  made 
terrible  ravages  among  passengers  and  crew.  More  than 
forty  bodies  were  thrown  over  to  the  sharks,  and  the  ship 
was  almost  a  pest  house  when  it  dropped  anchor  off  Tadous- 
sac.  The  bishop  had  labored  night  and  day  with  the  sick 
and  dying  but  escaped  the  contagion,  and  the  Lord  gave 

320 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

him  another  consolation  when  he  came  ashore.  An  earth- 
quake had  stopped  the  hquor  traffic. 

During  the  entire  year  there  had  been  strange  phenomena 
in  the  heavens.  What  seemed  hke  fiery  serents  appeared  in 
the  air,  and  one  night,  a  ball  of  fire,  from  which  sparks  shot 
out  in  all  directions  hovered  above  Quebec.  At  Montreal 
it  seemed  to  issue  from  the  moon,  and  as  it  sped  through 
the  air,  reverberations  of  thunder  like  the  roll  of  a  park  of 
artillery  were  heard  until  the  meteor  disappeared  behind 
the  mountains.  Later  on,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  a  bright  winter  day,  a  slight  mist  was  seen  rising  from 
the  St.  Lawrence.  When  it  caught  the  first  rays  of  the 
sun,  two  other  suns  appeared,  not  far  from  each  other,  with 
a  rainbow-  above  them,  not,  however,  with  the  colors  fixed, 
but  fading  gradually  into  a  luminous  white,  as  if  behind 
it  were  a  brilliant  light.  This  was  on  the  7th  of  January, 
1663,  and  lasted  for  two  hours.  It  occurred  again  a  week 
later.  The  color,  however,  did  not  grow  white  but  merely 
faded  away,  while  the  suns  on  either  side  vanished  simul- 
taneously. 

All  this  was  considered  as  an  admonition  from  heaven. 
In  February,  1663,  the  earth  began  to  speak.  It  was  the 
day  before  Mardi  Gras,  when  a  good  deal  of  revelry  might 
have  been  expected ;  but  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a 
great  rushing  sound  was  heard,  like  the  sweep  of  a  mighty 
conflagration,  and  every  one  hurried  into  the  streets.  They 
saw  the  walls  of  their  houses  swaying  to  and  fro.  The 
bells  began  to  ring  of  themselves.  Beams  and  uprights, 
and  rafters  cracked,  and  the  earth  heaved  and  swelled  in 
every  direction.  The  people  were  in  consternation  ;  children 
were  crying  with  terror,  and  men  and  women  were  on  their 
knees  praying  for  mercy.  The  animals  broke  loose  and  fled, 
and  all  night  long  the  ground  rose  and  fell  like  the  sea, 
the  great  trees  in  the  forest  swayed  and  crashed  into  each 
other,  or  were  torn  from  their  roots;  the  ice  in  the  river, 
though  five  or  six  feet  thick  cracked  with  a  frightful  noise, 

321 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  leaped  into  the  air,  flinging  up  great  columns  of  vapor 
and  mud.  The  springs  dried  up  or  became  sulphurous,  and 
the  St.  Lawrence  turned  white  as  far  as  Tadoussac.  Mean- 
time the  sky  was  full  of  fiery  forms ;  pikes  and  spears  and 
fire  brands  were  seen  close  to  the  roofs  of  the  houses ;  dismal 
bowlings  added  to  the  horrors  of  the  night,  and  monsters 
of  the  deep,  porpoises  and  sea  cows  were  seen  as  far  as 
Montreal  bellowing  with  fear.  At  Three  Rivers  high  bluffs 
were  levelled,  and  two  hills  fell  into  the  river  and  deflected 
the  stream.  For  three  months  afterwards  the  St.  Lawrence 
was  brown  with  mud.  Elsewhere  mountains  were  razed, 
new  lakes  were  formed,  and  well  known  rivers  disappeared ; 
what  had  been  cataracts  became  smooth  water,  and  thou- 
sands of  acres  which  had  shortly  before  been  covered 
by  forests  were  changed  into  level  fields.  Nature  had  be- 
come tipsy  instead  of  the  Indians,  and  this  riot  of  the  ele- 
ments went  on  for  six  months,  though  the  shocks  were 
growing  less  and  less  violent  on  the  plains,  but  near  the 
mountains  the  rumblings  were  incessant.  The  disturbance 
extended  down  as  far  as  Gaspe,  New  England  and  Acadia. 
Finally,  on  September  1,  1663,  there  was  an  eclipse  of  the 
sun  which  gave  to  the  whole  country  a  pale  and  sepulchral 
look.  It  began  at  twenty  minutes  and  forty-two  seconds 
past  one,  and  ended  at  fifty-two  minutes  and  forty-four 
seconds  after  three.  Singularly  enough,  no  lives  were  lost 
in  these  upheavals,  but  for  some  time  there  was  no  drinking 
in  Canada. 

There  are  various  accounts  of  these  cosmic  disturbances, 
and  no  doubt  there  may  have  been  unconscious  exagger- 
ations in  the  description  of  the  events  which  in  the  midst 
of  the  solitudes  of  the  New  World  the  imagination  would 
naturally  color  and  intensify,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  in 
the  main  they  were  true.  They  are  vouched  for  by  the 
"  Relations,"  the  narrative  of  Marie  de  ITncarnation,  the 
history  of  I'Hotel  Dieu.  the  chronicles  of  events  in  New 
England,  and  they  are  generally  accepted  by  historians. 


JEROME   LALEMANT. 

On  July  23,  1663,  the  Governor,  d'Avaugour,  set  sail  for 
France,  and  on  September  15,  as  the  "  Journal  des  Jesuites  " 
informs  us,  the  new  governor,  de  Mesy,  the  bishop  and 
others  came  up  in  a  shallop  from  Tadoussac.  It  was  a  con- 
solation for  them  to  hear  that  they  would  not  be  troubled  for 
some  time  at  least  with  the  liquor  traffic. 

Bishop  Laval  could  scarcely  have  been  blamed  for  his  selec- 
tion of  the  new  governor.  He  had  known  de  Mesy,  who 
though  a  layman,  had  been  one  of  the  solitaires  with  him 
and  the  other  ecclesiastics  at  Caen.  What  more  likely,  than 
that  this  accomplished  gentleman  of  the  world,  who  was  as 
devout  as  any  priest,  and  apparently  in  pursuit  of  the  loftiest 
ideals,  would  be  an  ideal  governor  and  would  work  in  ab- 
solute harmony  with  his  friend  the  bishop.  But  the  very 
reverse  happened.  He  had  all  the  defects  of  his  two  imme- 
diate predecessors,  resented  all  interference  on  the  part  of 
the  bishop,  and  displayed  the  most  exaggerated  ideas  of  his 
own  importance.  He  was  proud,  sensitive,  irascible,  and 
was  even  suspected  of  having  an  itching  palm.  He  lasted 
scarcely  two  years.  He  was  preparing  to  leave,  but  died 
at  Quebec  on  May  5,  1665.  He  was  reconciled  to  Laval 
at  the  last  moment.  The  end  of  de  Mesy's  career  coin- 
cided with  the  withdrawal  of  Lalemant  from  public  life. 
In  the  "  Journal  des  Jesuites  "  the  editors  add  a  note,  after 
the  3d  of  August,  1665,  which  reads  :  "Here  ends  the  writing 
of  Father  Jerome  Lalemant.  The  rest  is  in  the  hands  of 
Father  Le  Mercier." 

The  new  series  of  governors  \vhich  was  inaugurated  by 
such  men  as  de  Courcelles,  with  helpers  like  de  Tracy,  Talon 
and  others  then  began.  They  opened  the  way  for  the  new 
missions  in  New  York  by  chastising  the  Iroquois,  and  then 
Fremin,  Lamberville,  Millet,  and  others  began  their  splendid 
careers.  To  that  alone  is  to  be  ascribed  the  revival  of 
apostolic  work  among  the  Indians.  It  was  not  Lalemant's 
work.  It  came  after  his  time.  In  the  precious  ]\Is,  of 
Father  Martin  we  have  a  few  facts  about  the  last  days  of  the 

323 


^ 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

g^reat  man,  which  we  do  not  find  elsewhere,  and  we  are  told 
that  although  he  was  seventy-two  years  of  age  when  he  laid 
down  the  burden  of  superiorship,  he  taught  theology  in  the 
College  of  Quebec.  z-\fterwards  the  Ursulines  wanted  him 
to  revise  their  constitutions  and  adapt  them  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  times,  but  he  left  that  work  to  other  hands, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  task  he  liked  best,  of  instructing 
the  savages  and  teaching  little  children  their  catechism.  He 
died  on  January  26,  16(';>. 

We  have  no  details  of  his  last  moments,  nor  do  we  need 
any.  The  end  must  have  been  in  keeping  with  his  life. 
He  is  one  of  the  great  figures  in  the  history  of  New  France. 
He  had  been  a  valiant  missionary,  who  light-heartedly  faced 
every  danger :  the  beloved  superior  of  heroes,  saints  and 
martyrs;  the  chosen  ruler  of  one  of  the  greatest  educational 
institutions  in  Christiandom ;  the  chief  executive  of  the  illus- 
trious Laval  in  the  stormy  days  of  the  inauguration  of  the 
hierarchy  in  Canada ;  the  first  vicar  general  of  the  Diocese 
of  Quebec.  He  deserves  a  monument  in  the  land  he  loved 
so  much. 


324 


CHARLES  GARNIER 


CHAPTER  I. 
Missionary  Longings. 

Some  of  the  devout  clients  of  Father  Charles  Gamier  have 
been  shocked  to  find  that  he  has  been  made  the  hero  of  a 
love-story.  According  to  the  author  of  "  A  I'CEuvre  et  a 
I'Epreuve,"  it  was  decided  in  the  councils  of  the  Garnier 
family  to  have  him  marry  a  fair  maiden  who  had  been 
educated  at  Port  Royal,  and  whom  the  fascinating  Mere 
Angelique  had  vainly  endeavored  to  lure  behind  the  con- 
vent grille.  Mere  Angelique,  we  are  told,  was  pitted 
with  small  pox,  was  very  austere  but  had  wonderful  azure 
eyes;  all  of  which  is  valuable  historical  information.  The 
religious  vocation  of  Charles  interfered  with  the  family 
plans ;  the  youth  entered  the  novitiate ;  and  the  maid,  after 
wilting  for  a  while  recovered,  and  when  the  news  of  the 
martyrdom  arrived  she  was  a  holy  nun,  thanking  God  for 
not  having  interfered  with  such  a  glorious  career. 

It  is  a  pleasant  little  romance,  and  plainly  intended  for 
nothing  more  than  to  weave  a  pretty  thread  of  human  in- 
terest in  the  wonderful  sto-Ky  of  the  Huron  Missions,  and 
in  that  way  to  induce  even  languid  novel  readers  to  peruse 
the  book.  The  elder  Garnier  did  not,  as  the  novelist  tells 
us,  balk  at  his  son's  vocation.  On  the  contrary  he  was  de- 
lighted by  it,  and,  indeed,  led  him  to  the  novitiate,  where  he 
bade  him  good-bye.  Nor  could  it  have  been  otherwise,  be- 
cause there  was  already  martyr-blood  in  the  Garnier  family. 
For  in  the  religious  wars  of  France,  the  grandfather  of 
Charles,  who  had  been  Commandant  of  the  little  town  of 
Pithiviers,  was  hanged  by  the  Prince  de  Conde  for  refusing 
to  turn  Protestant  when  the  town  surrendered. 

From  a  military  point  of  view  such  a  death  was  accounted 
infamous,  though  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  martyrdom  for 

337 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  Faith.  Later  on,  when  his  son,  the  father  of  Charles, 
became  Secretary  of  the  Council  of  Henry  III  and  Treas- 
urer of  Normandy,  he  petitioned  the  King  to  have  the  sup- 
posed blot  removed  from  his  father's  reputation.  The  king 
of  course  complied,  and  a  proclamation  was  issued  declaring 
that  what  had  been  regarded  as  a  military  reproach  was, 
on  the  contrary,  a  national  glory.  A  splendid  mausoleum 
was  built  in  the  church  of  the  Carmelites  at  Pithiviers, 
where  the  hero  was  entombed,  and  on  it  the  record  of  his 
defence  of  the  town  was  inscribed,  besides  his  other  glories. 
Evidently  the  son  of  such  a  father  would  not  stand  in  the 
way  of  his  own  son's  vocation  to  a  religious  life. 

Charles  was  born  in  Paris  May  25,  1605,  though  another 
authority  puts  it  down  as  May  26,  1606.  He  got  his  school- 
ing at  Louis-le-Grand,  along  with  the  other  scions  of  nobil- 
ity, and  was  a  clever  lad  who  easily  led  in  his  studies.  He 
was  also  one  of  a  group  whcun  the  other  students  called 
the  "  bcati,"  either  because  of  their  happy  disposition,  or 
because  they  were  almost  good  enough  to  be  canonized. 
We  are  told  that  he  practiced  frightful  mortifications  at 
school,  but  while  the  precious  "  Manuscript  Life,"  written 
by  his  brother,  informs  us  of  these  pious  excesses,  it  also 
gives  us  some  other  interesting  pictures  of  this  period  of 
the  future  martyr's  youth.  For  instance,  the  favorite  game 
in  the  college  was  jcu  dc  paumc,  a  sort  of  field  handball, 
which,  like  modern  athletics,  required  expenditure  of  money. 
Charles's  remittances,  however,  went  to  a  Prisoners'  Relief 
Society,  and  also  for  the  purchase  of  bad  books  which  he 
burned.  He  would  need  a  fortune  in  our  days  for  such 
auto  da  fcs.  Though  he  was  not  a  player,  he  of  course  went 
to  the  games,  and  in  connection  with  it,  comes  the  revela- 
tion that  though  a  saint,  he  was  a  genuine  boy.  "  One 
day,"  says  the  manuscript,  "  he  and  his  eldest  brother  were 
returning  from  a  jen  de  paumc;  and  just  for  sport  the 
brother  and  a  companion  named  Denis  went  into  an  inn  in 
the   Faubourg   St.    Denis ;    "  not   a   common   resort,"    the 

328 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

chronicler  who  was  a  Carmehte  monk  hastens  to  assure 
us,  "  but  a  famous  estabhshment  known  as  le  Riclie 
Laboureur  (The  Wealthy  Plowman).  Charles  being  a 
socialist  refused  to  enter.  He  waited  outside,  however,  and 
with  school-boy  casuistry,  when  his  friends  smuggled  out 
the  half  of  a  chicken,  he  enjoyed  his  share  of  the  feast  with 
all  proper  relish,  and  the  surveillant  was  not  informed  of 
the  breach  of  rules.  After  his  college  course,  Charles  ap- 
plied for  admission  to  the  Society,  his  father  consenting,  as 
we  have  said,  qualifying  his  generosity,  however,  with  the 
assertion  that  "  only  his  esteem  for  the  Society  reconciled 
him  to  parting  with  the  boy  who  had  never  caused  him  a 
moment's  pain."  The  novitiate  was  in  his  native  city,  and 
among  the  novices  was  the  famous  Julien  Maunoir,  whose 
missions  and  miracles  were  later  on  to  be  the  wonder  of 
France.  There  was  also  Menard,  who  was  to  go  farther  west 
in  search  of  souls  than  any  missionary  had  yet  done,  and 
who  left  his  bones  in  the  swamps  of  Wisconsin.  Another 
distinguished  associate  was  Le  Mercier,  whose  name  is 
alongside  of  Garnier's  in  the  famous  death-letter  which  de 
Brebeuf  wrote  in  the  wigwam  at  Ossossane.  Finally  there 
was  Chastelain,  with  whom  he  was  forever  afterwards 
united  in  the  bonds  of  the  most  tender  affection.  "  When 
you  pray  for  me,"  Garnier  wrote  to  his  brother.  "  you  pray 
for  Chastelain,  for  we  are  one." 

We  have  no  details  about  those  days  except  that  his  route 
on  the  usual  novitiate  pilgrimage,  brought  him  through  the 
town  of  Pithiviers,  where  his  grand-father  had  given  up 
his  life  for  the  Faith.  It  made  him  happy  to  find  that  his 
ancestor's  memory  was  still  devoutly  cherished  in  the  town, 
and  possibly  the  desire  of  a  similar  immolation  arose  in  his 
heart,  as  he  knelt  at  the  splendid  tomb.  His  rhetoric,  phil- 
osophy and  theology  were  all  made  at  Louis-le-Grand,  where 
he  had  lived  as  a  boy,  but  it  is  not  pleasant  to  see  on  the 
records  that  while  he  was  studying  theology  he  was  also 
a  prefect.       Perhaps  his  delicate  health  required  that  dis- 

329 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

traction,  or  it  may  be  that  the  great  Petavius,  who  was  a 
professor  there,  made  theology  easy. 

It  was  while  he  was  pursuing  his  course  of  theology  that 
he  was  confronted  with  a  family  skeleton.  His  eldest 
brother,  the  same  one  who  had  figured  in  the  escapade  at  the 
cabaret  of  Le  Riche  Laboiircur,  though  occupying  a  distin- 
guished position  in  the  world  after  leaving  school,  had  lapsed 
into  a  life  of  dissipation.  Even  his  faith  seemed  to  be 
shaking.  The  letters  of  Charles  to  a  second  brother,  who 
later  on  became  a  Carmelite  monk,  furnish  us  with  some 
information  about  this  domestic  sorrow.  Writing  in  Oc- 
tober, 1631,  he  says:  "  I  saw  him  at  Argenteuil  on  the  9th 
of  this  month,  on  my  way  to  Paris.  I  found  him  much 
better  than  when  I  left  home,  but  not  what  I  wanted.  I 
have  prayed  so  much  for  him,  that  if  my  prayers  were 
agreeable  to  God  I  cannot  understand  how  he  remains  in 
the  state  in  which  he  is." 

Later  on  even  the  Carmelite  began  to  give  him  some 
uneasiness,  but  possibly  the  good  monk  was  piously  exag- 
gerating his  own  spiritual  troubles  and  Charles  was  unduly 
solicitous.  "  Oh !  "  he  exclaims  to  the  newly  made  re- 
ligious, "  if  I  had  but  made  my  novitiate  in  the  proper  dis- 
positions what  a  different  man  I  should  be  now !  "  and  he 
then  proceeds  to  tell  the  monk  how  to  profit  by  his  oppor- 
tunities. This  hortatory  tone  continues  year  after  year, 
even  when  the  letters  were  coming  from  distant  America, 
for  the  Carmelite  is  continually  accusing  himself  of  melan- 
choly, depression  of  spirits,  bodily  ailments,  unwillingness 
to  accept  the  burdens  put  upon  him,  etc.  Indeed,  the  com- 
munications sent  year  after  year  from  one  to  the  other  might 
be  made  into  a  little  treatise  of  exalted  asceticism. 

In  1633,  there  is  again  a  reference  to  the  prodigal  of  the 
family.  He  had  shocked  his  people  by  saying  when  the 
conversation  turned  upon  the  Capuchins  that  if  he  had  to 
choose  between  a  Capuchin  convent  and  hell  he  would 
prefer  the  latter,  but  the  prayers  of  his  friends  were  begin- 

330 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

ning  to  prevail.  He  presented  himself  to  the  Capuchins 
whom  he  affected  to  despise,  and  asked  to  be  admitted 
among-  them.  As  his  reputation  was  not  of  the  best,  they 
naturally  hesitated,  but  he  protested  that  if  they  put  him 
out  he  would  lie  on  the  door-step  as  a  beggar  till  they  let 
him  in.  They  finally  yielded,  and  he  took  the  habit,  so  that 
the  Garniers  now  had  a  Carmelite,  a  Jesuit  and  a  Capuchin. 

Whether  there  were  any  other  sons  in  the  family  we  do  not 
know,  but  one  can  easily  sympathize  with  the  Father's  im- 
patience, holy  old  man  though  he  was,  when  he  heard  of  the 
desire  of  Charles  to  go  out  to  America  for  the  Indian 
Missions.  He  would  not  consent  to  it.  He  had  done  his 
share,  he  thought,  in  giving  three  sons  to  the  Church,  and 
the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  Jesuit  superiors 
made  them  hesitate  for  a  year  or  so.  Finally  when  the 
father  reluctantly  desisted  from  direct  opposition,  Charles, 
with  a  sort  of  holy  madness,  started  for  Dieppe  on  foot. 
He  would  not  wait  for  a  companion.  Unfortunately  it  was 
winter;  the  roads  were  bad;  he  had  taken  no  provisions 
for  the  journey;  and  before  he  reached  his  destination  he 
fell  in  a  faint  several  times  from  sheer  exhaustion.  He  had 
not  dared  to  face  his  father  before  leaving  home,  fearing 
a  change  of  mind.  He  was  worried,  however,  at  not  re- 
ceiving the  paternal  blessing,  and  we  find  him  writing  from 
America  to  the  Carmelite  to  thank  him  for  having  obtained 
it  for  him. 

He  left  Dieppe,  April  5,  1636.  He  had  glorious  company 
on  board,  for  with  him  were  the  new  governor,  Mont- 
magny,  Jogues,  Daniel,  and  the  beloved  Chastelain.  The 
"  Relations  "  do  not  give  us  any  details  about  the  voyage, 
except  that  there  was  a  very  fierce  individual  among  the 
passengers  whom  every  body  feared  and  shunned,  but  for 
whom  the  gentle  Garnier  always  had  an  attraction,  and  whom 
he  won  over  and  made  the  delight  of  the  ship  for  the  rest 
of  the  journey.  This  gap  in  the  "  Relations,"  however,  is 
filled  up  by  a  fragment  of  a  letter  which  he  wrote  from 

331 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Quebec  to  his  father.  ''  Of  course/'  he  says,  "  there  was 
many  a  hardship,  but  M.  le  General  (Bouchard)  made  it  as 
easy  as  possible.  I  missed  Mass  only  twelve  or  thirteen 
times  during  the  voyage,  which  lasted  two  months.  Our 
chapel  was  in  the  cabin  of  M.  le  General.  One  part  of  the 
crew  assisted  at  the  first  Mass,  the  rest  at  the  second.  At 
the  Elevation  there  were  two  fusilades  of  musketry,  and 
on  Sundays  and  feast  days  two  salvos  of  artillery.  Our 
"  parishioners  "  went  to  Communion,  and  M.  de  Montmagny 
set  them  the  example,  besides  delighting  every  one  with  the 
care  he  took  of  a  poor  family  on  board  who  were  all  sick. 
Orders  were  posted  up  on  the  ship  prohibiting  profanity, 
stealing  and  quarreling.  Everything,  indeed,  was  so  re- 
ligiously conducted,  that  even  the  pain  bcnif  was  distributed 
on  Sundays,  as  if  the  travellers  had  been  at  home  in  their 
own  parish  church.  In  the  afternoon  there  was  a  sermon 
with  vespers  and  complines.  On  week  days  besides  daily 
prayers,  catechism  was  taught  to  the  children,  and  after 
supper  a  half  hour's  reading  from  the  "  Lives  of  the 
Saints,"  usually  in  the  cabin  of  the  general,  but  sometimes 
on  deck  for  the  sailors.  It  differs  somewhat  from  modern 
methods  of  crossing  the  deep.  Their  arrival  is  thus 
described. 

"  On  St.  Barnabas'  Night,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  a  vessel 
dropped  anchor  off  Quebec.  It  had  come  up  in  the  dark,  and 
next  morning  we  were  told  that  M.  de  Montmagny  was  on 
board,  and  with  him  Fathers  Garnier  and  Chastelain.  We 
hurried  down  to  receive  them,  and  after  the  usual  compli- 
ments of  welcome  we  devoutly  followed  the  governor  to  the 
church.  When  we  passed  the  tree  of  our  salvation,  which 
is  planted  on  the  wayside,  he  said  :  '  Behold  the  first  cross 
I  have  seen  in  this  country.  Let  us  adore  the  Crucified  in 
His  image,'  and  he  knelt  down  on  both  knees.  We  all 
did  the  same,  and  then  directed  our  steps  to  the  church, 
where  we  sung  a  solemn  Te  Dcum,  and  oft'ered  our  prayers 
to  God  for  our  good  king.     Then,  when  our  thanksgiving 

332 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

was  ended,  M.  de  Chateaufort,  who  had  been  in  command 
since  Champlain's  death,  handed  the  new  governor  the  keys 
of  the  fortress,  while  salvos  of  cannon  and  musketry  shook 
the  air. 

"  During  these  ceremonies,  the  governor  had  been  asked 
if  he   would  be  god-father  at   the  baptism  of  an  Indian. 

*  Most  willingly,'  he  replied ;  '  I  am  delighted  to  have  the 
happiness  at  the  beginning  of  my  administration  to  open  the 
door  to  a  poor  soul  who  wishes  to  enter  heaven,'  Where- 
upon preparations  were  quickly  made,  and  to  let  the  new- 
comers put  their  sickle  in  the  harvest,  Father  Chastelain 
was  asked  if  he  would  like  to  administer  the  sacrament. 

*  God !  '  "  exclaimed  the  writer,  who  was  not  profane  but 
pious,  "  you  should  have  seen  his  joy  when  the  offer  was 
made  to  him.  Immediately  the  governor,  accompanied  by 
all  his  dapper  noblemen,  and  the  rest  of  us,  set  out  for  the 
grimy  Indian  quarters,  where  the  poor  savages  were  startled 
at  all  this  glitter  of  gold  and  scarlet  flashing  in  the  dark- 
ness of  their  miserable  hut.  The  neophyte,  who  was  very 
sick,  answered  all  the  cjuestions  very  satisfactorily;  the  name 
of  Joseph  was  given  to  him  by  the  governor,  and  he  was 
baptized. 

At  dinner,  for  all  these  happenings  were  in  the  forenoon, 
the  governor  declared  that  he  had  that  day  received  the 
highest  honor  and  had  experienced  the  greatest  happiness 
he  could  hope  for  in  New  France.  It  was  very  consoling, 
but  in  the  afternoon,  the  general  joy  was  increased  for 
another  ship  arrived,  and  besides  the  two  Jesuits  who  were 
on  board,  namely  Father  Adam  and  Brother  Cauvet.  several 
families,  among  others  those  of  M.  de  Repentigny  and 
M.  de  la  Poterie,  "  excellent  gentlemen  both,  "  came  to 
swell  the  number  of  our  colonists.  There  were  forty-five 
persons  in  all.  "  It  was  a  beautiful  sight,"  says  the  "  Re- 
lation," very  naively,  "  to  see  these  delicate  damosels,  and 
the  tenderest  babes  come  forth  from  that  prison  of  wood 
as  day  issues  from  the  darkness  of  night.     Notwithstanding 

ooo 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

all  the  inconvenience  they  had  to  suffer  in  those  floating 
dwellings,  they  arrived  in  as  sweet  a  state  of  health  as  if 
they  had  been  making  a  little  promenade  en  voiture." 

The  baptism  in  which  Garnier  participated  gave  him  some 
new  ideas  of  the  moral  and  physical  fibre  of  the  people  to 
whom  he  was  going  to  devote  his  life.  As  the  sick  man  had 
been  ailing  for  a  long  time,  the  army  surgeon  had  been  in- 
duced to  prescribe  for  him  and  the  priest  was  acting  as  nurse, 
renewing  the  bandages,  bathing  the  sores  and  supplying 
the  patient  with  food  and  what  little  comforts  were  avail- 
able. As  he  was  growing  worse  he  said :  *'  Nikanis " 
— which  means  my  beloved  friend — "  never  mind  the  body 
now ;  it  is  dead ;  attend  to  the  soul ;  baptize  me."  Evidently, 
the  difference  between  matter  and  spirit  was  clear  to  him. 

The  priest  thought  proper  to  defer  the  ceremony  for  a 
while,  and  very  wisely  so.  For  the  next  time  he  entered 
the  hut  he  found  a  medicine  man  blowing  on  the  patient, 
howling  and  dancing  and  beating  his  drum.  The  priest 
was  indignant.  He  berated  both  of  them  very  roundly, 
bidding  the  sick  man  to  pray  to  God,  and  not  to  the  devil, 
and  ordering  the  medicine  man  to  stop  his  incantations  over 
one  who  had  already  professed  his  belief  in  Christianity. 
The  sorcerer  stared,  said  not  a  word,  and  silently  with- 
drew. But  the  invalid  remonstrated.  "  What  makes  you 
angry,  Nikanis?  The  medicine  man  only  came  to  do  what 
•is  usual  among  us.  If  it  is  wrong,  of  course  it  must  be 
stopped.  But  we  did  not  mean  anything."  Then  some 
of  the  other  Indians  put  in  a  word:  "Nikanis,  you  have 
no  sense.  You  are  doing  what  you  can  for  the  sick  man, 
but  you  have  not  succeeded.  Help  is  offered,  and  you  get 
angry.  Two  are  not  too  many  to  handle  such  an  illness. 
You  do  your  part,  and  you  should  let  him  do  his."  "  Like 
■the  Philistines,"  mused  the  priest,  "  they  want  to  have  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant  and  Dagon  at  the  same  time;  and 
■yet,"  he  continued,  "  perhaps  all  these  tomfooleries  are 
more  innocent  than  we  imagine.     It  all  depends  on  the 

334 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

intention.  The  most  stupid  among  the  Indians  think  the 
music  soothes  them ;  others  regard  it  as  a  medicine,  and 
others  again  are  quite  convinced  that  the  noise  scares  away 
the  Manitou;  while  the  medicine  men  themselves  carry  on 
their  monkeyshines  (ces  singeries)  to  make  money."  The 
missionaries  had  begun  to  suspect  that  they  saw  more  evil 
in   the    Indian   practice   of   medicine   than    really   existed. 

However,  the  sick  man  promised  to  behave  himself  in 
future,  and  in  course  of  time,  when  there  was  no  longer 
any  hope  of  his  living,  he  was  as  we  have  seen  baptized. 
But  after  the  baptism  he  called  the  Father.  "  Nikanis," 
he  said,  ''  there  is  one  thing  more  I  want."  "  What  is  it?  " 
"  To  go  to  Three  Rivers."  "  But  you  will  die  on  the 
way."  "Not  at  all,"  he  replied.  "  I  shall  reach  it,  live 
a  little  while  and  then  die.  I  want  to  see  my  people,  for  the 
last  time.  You  have  brothers  there  also ;  write  to  them 
and  tell  them  to  take  care  of  my  soul  as  you  have  done." 

He  had  to  be  humored.  He  was  put  in  a  canoe  with 
his  wife  and  children,  and  they  paddled  up  the  St.  Lawrence. 
When  he  arrived  at  Three  Rivers  he  sent  for  Father 
Buteux,  and  made  him  sit  down  and  read  the  letter  from 
Quebec.  Finding  that  he  was  a  Christian  and  the  godson 
of  the  governor,  Buteux  embraced  him  effusively,  much 
to  the  delight  of  the  Indians  who  were  not  accustomed  to 
such  endearments.  "  Your  brother,"  said  the  red  man, 
*'  took  care  of  me  at  Quebec."  "  We  shall  do  the  same 
here,"  was  the  reply;  "let  me  see  if  you  remember  what 
my  brother  taught  you."  "  Surely,"  he  said,  as  he  put 
down  the  bark  dish  he  was  holding,  and  began  to  count 
on  his  fingers,  the  Three  Persons  of  the  Blessed  Trinity, 
and  to  recite  the  fundamental  truths;  his  wife  meantime 
jogging  his  memory  when  he  forgot.  "  I  could  not  help 
crying,"  writes  Buteux.  "  when  I  saw  this  forty-year-old 
savage  who  had  passed  his  life  amid  the  horrors  of  pagan- 
ism, reciting  his  catechism  with  the  humility  of  a  child,  and 
the  devotion  of  a  grown  person.     He  died  on  June  30,  and 

335 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

we  obtained  his  corpse  from  the  Indians  for  burial,  but 
only  after  a  long  fight  with  the  council  which  had  to  be 
convened  to  sit  on  the  case." 

After  that  another  ceremony,  which  is  both  picturesque  and 
illuminative  of  Indian  habits  took  place.  In  it  both  Garnier 
and  the  governor  participated.  It  was  not  a  baptism  but 
a  funeral.  A  stalwart  young  savage  named  Echkanich,  or 
Little  Horn  had  fallen  sick  at  Three  Rivers,  and  then 
began  to  pine  for  his  family  who  were  coursing  through  the 
woods  around  Quebec.  To  satisfy  him,  one  of  his  rela- 
tives put  him  on  a  sled,  and  dragged  him  over  the  snow 
and  ice  for  the  ninety  miles  that  lie  between  the  two  places. 
"  You  can  imagine,"  says  the  chronicle,  "  what  kind  of 
refreshment  he  had  on  the  road,  and  at  what  kind  of  inns 
he  put  up  at  night.  But  these  Indians  have  bodies  of  brass 
and  can   stand  anything." 

The  poor  wretch  arrived  in  Quebec  with  some  life  yet 
in  him,  and  one  of  the  Fathers  immediately  hastened  to 
see  him.  He  admired  the  courage  of  the  man  who  had 
dragged  the  sled,  and  who  was  not  at  all  tired,  but  was 
dumbfounded  at  the  will  power  of  the  sick  man.  After 
giving  both  of  them  something  to  eat,  he  began  to  talk  to 
them  about  spiritual  matters,  and  they  both  listened  very 
eagerly.  The  invalid  was  especially  consoled  by  what  he 
heard  about  another  life,  which  was  so  different  from  the 
one  he  was  leading,  but  the  other  was  disappointed  at 
not  finding  his  relations  at  Quebec.  So  leaving  his  friend 
in  the  miserable  hut,  he  started  for  the  woods.  The  Fathers 
then  took  charge  of  the  invalid,  provided  for  his  bodily 
wants,  and  were  in  high  hopes  of  making  him  a  Christian 
when  his  relatives  arrived.  In  spite  of  every  remonstrance 
they  immediately  put  his  poor  emaciated  carcass  on  a  sled, 
and  dragged  him  off  over  the  ice  to  the  woods.  Those 
who  saw  him  going  thought  he  would  last  about  five  days; 
but  he  passed  the  whole  winter  with  his  people,  although 
he  was  hauled  around  starved  and  suffering  over  mountains 

336 


>. 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

and  valleys  and  lakes  and  rivers  wherever  they  could  find 
an  Indian  camp. 

Spring  came,  and  they  returned  to  Quebec.  The  priest, 
who  had  been  praying  for  the  sufferer  all  the  time,  was 
filled  with  pity  and  amazement.  The  poor  wretch  had  some 
of  his  faculties  left,  at  least  enough  to  grasp  the  funda- 
mentals of  the  Faith.  He  could  hear,  but  his  eyes  were 
gone.  His  body  had  scarcely  a  shred  of  flesh  on  it,  and 
he  was  a  skeleton  rather  than  a  man.  But  he  listened 
very  willingly  to  all  that  was  said  to  him,  the  mother  very 
gently  suggesting  what  he  could  not  grasp  at  first.  In 
brief,  he  gave  sufficient  proofs  of  belief,  and  died  five  days 
after  he  was  baptized.  The  mother  immediately  wrapped 
the  body  in  furs,  and  without  saying  a  word  to  anyone 
hurried  away  and  placed  it  on  a  high  platform  after  the 
fashion  in  which  the  Indians  usually  dispose  of  the  dead. 

When  the  priest  learned  this,  he  immediately  returned 
to  the  cabin.  "Where  is  the  body?"  he  asked.  No 
answer.  He  then  posted  off  to  the  chief,  and  told  him  that 
the  new  governor  would  be  shocked  if  the  body  were  not 
buried  in  a  Christian  manner.  The  chief  agreed  to  help 
him,  and  presenting  himself  to  the  old  mother  made  a  solemn 
speech  at  her,  as  if  he  were  addressing  a  council  of  sachems, 
until  she  finally  gave  orders  to  some  young  braves  to  go 
and  fetch  the  corpse  to  the  cabin.  As  they  were  very  slow 
about  obeying,  the  priest  urged  them  to  make  haste. 
"  Why  the  soul  may  be  yet  in  the  body."  they  replied, 
"  and  yet,"  says  the  Father.  *'  two  days  had  already  passed 
since  the  poor  wretch  had  expired." 

Finally  the  body  was  brought.  The  funeral  was  arranged 
and  it  was  made  as  solemn  as  possible.  The  governor  was 
asked  to  assist,  and  he  consented  most  willingly,  giving 
up  for  the  day,  his  work  of  laying  out  the  fortifications. 
He  summoned  his  gentlemen  and  soldiers  around  him,  and 
with  a  torch  in  hand  followed  the  body  of  the  poor  Indian 
to  the  tomb.     Fathers  Gamier  and  Chastelain  carried  tlie 

337 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

corpse,  and  the  savages  followed  in  profound  silence.  But 
they  had  their  way  at  the  grave.  They  began  to  throw  into 
it  blankets  and  coats,  and  among  other  things  a  sack  hold- 
ing the  dead  man's  few  effects,  and  a  roll  of  bark.  "  What 
good  is  all  that?  "  asked  the  priest.  "  It  will  be  of  no  use 
in  the  other  world."  "  It  is  our  custom,"  was  the  answer. 
"  We  keep  nothing  that  belongs  to  the  dead."  The  body 
was  finally  lowered  into  its  last  resting  place,  and  covered 
with  earth ;  the  French  looking  on  and  trying  to  console 
the  family  for  its  loss.  Such  were  Garnier's  first  experi- 
ences with  the  Indians  of  the  New  World. 


338 


CHAPTER  II. 
Among  the  Savages. 

"  I  am  in  a  Paradise,"  he  wrote  to  his  brother  about  this 
time ;  meaning  Canada,  "  and  in  a  few  days  my  happi- 
ness will  be  complete.  We  are  to  start  for  the  Huron 
country."  He  set  out  for  Three  Rivers  with  Chastelain 
on  the  1st  of  July.  "  Monsieur  noire  gonverneur,"  we  are 
told.  "  conducted  them  to  the  river  side,  avec  une  courtoisie 
et  une  affection  non  pareille''  and  ordered  three  salutes 
from  the  cannon  of  the  fort  as  the  travellers  paddled  out 
in  their  canoes  on  the  great  river.  They  were  a  week  at 
Three  Rivers  when  Father  Le  Jeune,  to  whom  they  had 
bade  good-bye  at  Quebec  joined  them.  Word  had  come  to 
him  that  some  Hurons  were  expected,  and  he  had  to  be 
on  hand  to  arrange  officially  for  the  departure  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  also  to  answer  what  letters  might  be  brought 
down  from  Huronia. 

He  had  started  out  in  the  ship  which  was  anchored  off 
Quebec,  but  as  he  had  often  had  the  experience  of  being 
becalmed  in  mid-stream,  or  being  held  back  by  adverse 
winds,  he  had  left  word  with  a  party  of  Indians  who  were 
going  up  the  river,  to  take  him  on  board  in  case  they 
overtook  him.  What  was  feared  happened,  and  the  ship 
was  soon  surrounded  by  a  flotilla  of  canoes,  crowded  with 
Indians,  all  clamoring  for  Father  Le  Jeune.  He  got  into 
one  of  the  boats,  and  they  soon  left  the  great  ship  far 
behind. 

They  paddled  steadily  on  till  three  in  the  afternoon,  but 
as  the  wind  was  then  sweeping  down  the  river,  lashing  the 
v.-aves  into  fury,  the  travellers  made  for  the  shore  and 
hauled  their  canoes  into  the  woods.  A  fire  was  started  to 
smoke  out  the  mosquitoes,  and  a  few  branches  were  flung  on 

339 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  ground  to  serve  as  a  bed  for  the  night.  If  it  rained, 
the  travehers  would  crawl  under  their  furs.  While  they 
were  there,  and  Le  Jeune  was  trying  to  say  his  breviary,  at 
some  distance  from  the  rest  of  the  party,  an  Indian,  like 
Nicodemus  of  old,  managed  to  get  near  him  in  a  place 
where  he  could  not  be  seen  by  the  others,  and  asked  for 
instruction  in  the  Faith.  Of  course  nothing  serious  could 
be  done  then,  but  the  poor  savage  promised  to  pray  to 
the  God  of  the  Christians  when  he  found  himself  surrounded 
by  enemies.  The  resolution  was  a  practical  one,  for  the 
Indians  were  then  out  on  the  warpath. 

As  night  approached,  a  chief  accosted  him.  "  We  ap- 
prove of  your  way  of  praying,"  said  he,  "  and  now  you 
ought  to  see  what  we  do."  Le  Jeune  willingly  assented, 
and  as  they  were  already  preparing  a  shelter  for  the  sor- 
cerer, who  was  going  to  consult  the  Manitou,  he  said : 
"Do  you  think  it  is  the  Manitou  that  shakes  that  cabin?" 
"  Surely,"  they  answered.  "  Very  well,  then.  Now  I  will 
tell  you  what  I  shall  do.  I  will  give  you  a  barrel  of  peas 
if,  as  soon  as  it  shakes,  you  will  let  me  go  inside,  and  hold 
the  medicine  man's  hands.  I  engage  you  it  will  not  shake 
a  second  time."  "Ho!  Ho!"  cried  the  young  braves. 
"  Let  him  do  it.  We'll  not  even  ask  for  the  peas;  a  barrel 
of  bread  will  do."  But  the  older  men  would  not  listen  to 
the  proposal.  They  silently  slunk  away,  and  there  was 
no  exhibition  by  the  medicine  man ;  though  at  midnight 
howls  were  heard  in  the  woods.  They  were  appeals  to  the 
Manitou  to  come,  but  the  spirit  failed  to  appear. 

Next  morning  beaver  tracks  were  discovered,  and  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  bark  which  was  useful  for  shields  was  found 
in  the  woods,  both  of  which  determined  the  Indians  not  to 
move  that  day.  Le  Jeune  was  anxious  to  go,  for  it  was 
Saturday,  and  he  wanted  to  say  Mass  on  Sunday  at  Three 
Rivers.  "  AMiat  is  your  hurry?  "  they  said.  "  You  would 
not  have  been  as  far  as  this,  if  you  had  remained  on  the  ship, 
and  yet  you  are  not  satisfied."     "  But  I  want  to  go  and 

340 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

pray  that  you  may  win  the  battle,"  he  said.  "  Oh!  you  do. 
That  is  important,"  and  they  hustled  him  into  a  canoe, 
promising  to  follow  immediately.  But  the  weather  was 
still  very  bad,  and  at  night-fall  he  was  eighteen  miles  from 
his  destination.  To  add  to  his  troubles,  his  Indians  had  a 
panic.  They  feared  there  were  Iroquois  near  by.  The 
enemy  did  not  come,  but  the  rain  did,  and  it  fell  in  tor- 
rents. "I  was  not  very  wet,  however,"  writes  Le  Jeune; 
"  I  got  under  my  blanket  and  at  daybreak  aroused  the  party, 
and  promised  them  a  fine  present  if  they  reached  the  fort 
before  mid-day.  Unhappily,  just  as  they  were  about  to 
embark,  one  of  them  fell  into  an  epileptic  fit,  and  there  was 
no  going  out  on  the  water  till  he  revived.  It  was  not  an 
unhappy  accident  after  all,  for  had  it  occurred  in  mid- 
stream, the  frail  canoe  would  have  certainly  capsized,  and 
Le  Jeune  would  never  have  reached  Three  Rivers. 

They  were  in  view  of  the  fort  before  mid-day,  when  they 
were  overtaken  by  the  canoes  which  they  had  left  down  the 
river.  As  the  flotilla  approached,  other  boats  put  out  from 
the  shore  to  join  them.  It  was  a  bright  Sunday  morning, 
and  as  Le  Jeune  left  the  canoe  the  Indians  shouted  with 
delight  as  the  effusive  Frenchmen  fell  on  each  other's  necks 
and  embraced.  Buteux  and  Chastelain  were  the  first  to 
hasten  to  greet  their  Superior,  and  as  all  three  walked  to- 
gether along  the  beach,  the  flotilla  out  in  the  stream  paddled 
along  at  a  respectful  distance,  never  going  ahead  of  the 
party  on  the  shore.  When  Garnier  and  Quentin  came  along, 
there  were  more  embraces  and  more  shouts  of  Ho!  Ho! 
But  the  next  day  filled  the  savage  cup  of  joy  to  overflowing. 
A  glorious  banquet  was  spread  for  them,  and  they  gorged 
themselves  with  the  plentiful  viands  put  at  their  disposal. 

Before  their  arrival,  a  poor  squaw  with  a  baby  in  her 
arms  had  presented  herself  at  the  fort  and  asked  to  have 
the  papoose  baptized,  promising  to  have  it  properly  in- 
structed when  it  grew  up.  It  was  now  Garnier's  turn,  and 
he  poured  the  water  on  the  head  of  the  little  innocent  with 

341 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

at  least  as  great  joy  as  he  did  afterwards  when  baptizing 
some  old  man-eating  savage,  who  could  no  longer  flourish 
the  torch  or  wield  the  tomahawk.  His  happiness  was  in- 
creased when  he  heard  that  in  a  few  days  he  and  Chastelain 
would  be  sailing  up  the  Ottawa ;  for  some  Hurons  who  had 
just  then  come  down  the  river  asked  to  have  them.  The 
request  was  a  startling  one,  from  people  who  had  hitherto 
been  so  averse  to  receiving  the  missionaries,  especially  as 
it  came  from  Indians  who  had  arrived  almost  accidentally 
and  at  the  opportune  moment.  "  Give  us  a  canoe  and  we 
shall  conduct  them  to  our  people,"  they  said;  but  strange 
to  say  there  was  only  one  little  battered  boat  available. 
Indeed,  it  was  not  only  strange  but  deplorable,  that  at  this 
stronghold  of  the  French,  where  there  should  have  been 
a  fleet  of  canoes  ready  for  all  emergencies,  such  poverty 
should  have  been  revealed  to  the  savages.  But  the  little 
craft  was  run  into  the  water  and  a  chief  took  his  place  at 
the  paddle.  In  front  of  him  was  one  of  the  missionaries. 
Whether  it  was  Garnier  or  Chastelain  we  are  not  told ; 
but  seeing  the  disappointment  of  the  priest  who  was  left, 
the  Indians  said :  "  It  would  be  a  pity  to  disappoint  him. 
There  is  also  room  for  him  in  our  canoe."  So  they 
made  for  the  west;  each  Indian  receiving  presents,  and  the 
chiefs  getting  something  else  besides,  on  account  of  their 
official  position.  A  barrel  of  peas,  another  of  bread  and 
a  supply  of  prunes  were  also  put  aboard,  as  a  reward  for 
the  generosity  of  the  Hurons  in  taking  the  missionaries. 
But  that  meagre  store  was  to  feed  the  hungry  savages  and 
the  two  missionaries  for  an  entire  month.  However,  they 
were  accustomed  to  starve,  and  with  light  hearts  they 
paddled  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  terrible  Ottawa. 

On  their  way  they  met  Daniel  who  was  coming  down 
with  his  young  Indians  to  begin  the  school  at  Quebec. 
When  Daniel  saw  them  he  was  so  delighted  at  the  good 
treatment  they  were  receiving,  "  for  they  had  their  shoes 
on  and  were  not  paddling,"  that  he  gave  each  of  the  Indians 

342 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

a  supply  of  tobacco.  He  himself  had  gone  to  Huronia  in 
quite  another  fashion.  Whether  it  was  the  bread  and  peas 
and  prunes,  and  the  unexpected  supply  of  tobacco,  or  the 
good  nature  of  the  two  missionaries  that  kept  the  Indians 
in  such  excellent  humor  we  cannot  say.  Garnier,  we  know, 
was  a  very  captivating  personality. 

He  wrote  a  letter  to  Le  Jeune  from  the  Lake  of  the 
Sorcerers ;  and  he  tells  his  superior  that  "  the  Indians 
treated  the  baby  like  a  baby."  They  would  not  even  let 
him  carry  anything  at  the  portages,  not  even  his  own  traps. 
Finally,  when  one  of  the  Indians  fell  sick,  the  "  baby " 
was  allowed  to  shoulder  a  burden,  but  "  it  was  very  light," 
he  said.  "  Indeed,  I  feel  quite  depressed  because  the  Lord 
has  not  let  me  bear  even  a  little  bit  of  the  cross.  We  reached 
the  Isle  des  Allumettes  on  the  eve  of  St.  Ignatius'  day; 
our  provisions  had  given  out,  and  we  bought  some  corn 
and  reached  Lake  Nippissing  on  August  8th.  There  we 
expect  Father  Davost  to  meet  us." 

His  companion  also  informed  Le  Jeune  that  in  spite  of 
all  they  had  suffered,  they  were  never  in  better  health. 
"  Even  I,  who  could  never  rest  on  the  ground  for  any  length 
of  time,  now  sleep  through  the  coldest  nights  with  nothing 
under  me  but  a  few  pine  branches.  I  say  nothing  about 
the  heat  of  the  sun  in  the  day  time,  and  the  want  of  food. 
It  is  sufficient  to  assure  you  that  in  the  midst  of  these 
bodily  sufferings,  God  has  given  me  much  consolation, 
though  it  is  not  precisely  sensible.  Indeed,  even  if  I  were 
a  thousand  times  more  abandoned  than  I  feel  myself  now, 
I  would  be  happy  to  suffer  for  God,  who  has  been  so  good 
and  loving  in  my  regard."  Garnier  does  not  appear  to 
have  remarked  the  hardships  of  the  road. 

On  the  12th  of  August,  Chastelain  reached  Ihonitiria, 
one  day  ahead  of  his  companion.  It  was  the  quickest 
journey  from  below  that  had  yet  been  made,  for  it  took 
only  three  weeks  in  all.  The  joy  of  the  old  missionaries 
at  this  unexpected  arrival  was  of  course  very  great.     "  The 

343 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

earliest  fruits  of  the  tree,"  wrote  Le  Mercier,  "  are  naturally 
more  delicious  than  those  one  gathers  later.  So  we  gave 
them  a  feast ;  but  what  a  feast !  A  handful  of  dried  fish 
and  a  little  flour.  I  sent  some  one  out  to  hunt  for  a  few 
ears  of  corn,  which  we  roasted  in  the  fire.  The  newcomers 
said  they  never  had  a  better  meal.  They  declared  they  felt 
as  if  they  had  reached  heaven.  They  were  particularly 
happy  that  all  along  the  frightful  road  they  had  been  able 
to  bunk  together,  and  were  only  sorry  they  had  been  unable 
to  say  Mass.  They  told  us  all  about  M.  de  Champlain's 
death,  of  which  we  had  heard  some  rumors,  but  which 
we  could  not  trust.  We  grieve  over  the  loss,  for  our 
Society  is  greatly  indebted  to  him  for  the  benevolence  he 
has  always  shown  us,  both  during  his  life  and  at  his  death. 
Our  missions  are  the  beneficiaries  of  his  last  will  and  testa- 
ment." This  voice  from  the  woods  in  praise  of  the  great 
Champlain  is  very  pleasant  to  hear. 

We  get  some  ideas  of  how  Garnier  spent  those  first  days 
from  a  number  of  letters  which  were  carefully  kept  by  his 
brother,  the  Carmelite.  One  is  dated  Ossossane  1637, 
and  is  addressed  to  his  father.  No  mention  is  made  of  his 
having  been  at  death's  door  shortly  after  arriving  at  the 
missions,  for  he  caught  the  pestilence  like  the  rest,  but 
he  says :  "  I  am  in  God's  hands  and  He  takes  care  of  me.  Of 
course  we  have  persecutions,  calumnies,  etc.,  but  people  of 
our  vocation  should  never  be  happy  till  they  hear  the  devil 
crying  out  against  them.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned  there 
is  not  a  place  on  earth  where  I  could  be  more  joyous.  You 
ought  to  know  that  we  have  a  fortress  here  that  has  not 
its  like  in  France;  and  our  walls  are  quite  different  from 
those  of  the  Bastille.  Indeed,  we  have  less  fear  of  the 
Spanish  cannon  than  you  have  in  Paris.  Of  course,  some 
wag  may  whisper  to  you  that  it  is  because  the  cannon 
cannot  come  within  nine  hundred  miles  of  us,  and  hence 
we  are  safe.  In  fact  our  defenses  consist  only  of  stakes 
ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  and  half  a  foot  thick;  but  we  have 

344 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

a  tower  made  of  thirty  stakes  at  one  corner  of  this  in- 
closure  and  on  two  sides  of  it.  We  are  going  to  have  two 
more  to  protect  the  two  other  approaches.  Our  Hurons 
fancy  that  the  French  forts  are  built  in  that  fashion.  It 
is  only  a  difference  of  opinion,  and  that  is  one  of  the 
reasons  why  I  am  glad  I  left  France.  You  remember  how 
you  used  to  laugh  at  me,  because  I  had  no  beard.  Pre- 
cisely on  that  account,  the  savages  here  think  I  am  a  hand- 
some man.  You  recollect,  also,  what  trouble  you  had  to 
make  me  study  surgery.  Now  that  is  one  of  my  trades 
here  at  present,  except  that  it  does  not  go  much  further  than 
preparing  poultices  and  administering  a  few  harmless 
drugs.  Do  not  worry  about  my  health.  I  never  felt  better 
in  all  my  life,  and,  indeed,  I  am  convinced  that  if  our  friends 
in  France  did  not  develop  as  much  girth  as  they  do,  they 
would  be  free  from  many  of  their  ailments.  About  learn- 
ing the  language  I  can  assure  you  that  I  am  making 
progress  thank  God!  I  jot  down  every  word  I  hear.  I 
have  not  the  same  chance  to  write  as  I  might  have  in  France, 
for  I  am  busy  from  morning  till  night,  instructing,  visiting 
the  sick,  and  receiving  the  savages  in  our  hut.  I  am  forging 
ahead,  however,  but  it  is  hard  work  to  get  these  poor 
brutalized  people  to  understand  the  mysteries  of  the  Faith. 
Remember  your  most  loving  son  whenever  you  lift  your 
heart  to  God." 

About  this  time,  the  spiritual  condition  of  his  brother, 
the  Carmelite,  was  filling  him  with  alarm,  but  of  course 
the  good  monk  was  continually  practicing  self-depreciation 
just  as  Charles  himself  was  always  wondering  how  God 
could  have  called  such  a  wretch  as  himself  to  the  divine 
work  of  the  missions  of  Canada.  Now  that  we  are  familiar 
with  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  it  is  curious  to  find  in  these 
letters  a  recommendation  to  the  Carmelite,  to  "  read  the 
beautiful  books  of  M.  de  Sales."  In  the  same  communi- 
cation we  find  a  valuable  topographical  hint  about  Ossos- 
sane;  it  is  called  Rochelle,  because  it  was  situated  on  a  hill. 

345 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

He  says  sur  une  montagne  but  he  was  a  Norman,  and  was 
accustomed  to  flatlands.  It  was  also  described  as  "  sur- 
rounded by  a  ravine."  He  thus  gives  us  two  features  of 
the  place  which  are  of  great  value  for  the  purpose  of 
identification.  Also,  by  giving  us  the  names  of  the  Fathers 
who  were  there,  namely  himself  or  "  Ouracha,"  as  he  was 
called,  de  Brebeuf,  Le  Mercier  and  Ragueneau,  while  Pi j art, 
Jogues  and  Chastelain  were  at  Ihonitiria,  which  was  about 
to  be  abandoned,  he  fills  up  a  gap  that  exists  in  the 
"  Relation." 

We  may  quote  here  also  a  letter  which  he  sent  much 
later,  but  which  may  be  transcribed  because  it  furnishes 
us  with  a  psychological  sketch  of  his  people.  "  I  want  a 
picture  of  Christ,"  he  says  "  without  a  beard  or  with  very 
little,  as  for  instance  when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  old. 
On  the  cross  the  figure  must  be  very  distinct,  and  with  no 
one  near  Him,  so  as  not  to  distract  the  attention.  Put  a 
crown  on  the  Blessed  Virgin,  a  sceptre  in  her  hand,  and 
have  Our  Lord  standing  on  her  knee.  That  quite  takes  the 
Indians'  fancy.  Do  not  use  a  halo.  They  will  mistake  it 
for  a  hat ;  though  rays  will  answer.  In  fact  the  head  must 
always  be  uncovered.  Send  me  pictures  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, and  make  the  souls  of  the  blessed  as  happy  looking 
as  possible.  Avoid  confusion  in  representing  the  General 
Judgment.  In  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  the  figures 
must  stand  out,  and,  if  possible,  let  them  be  illuminated. 
The  faces  should  not  be  in  profile,  but  full  and  with  the 
eyes  wide  open.  The  bodies  should  not  be  completely 
draped;  at  least  a  part  should  be  bare.  There  must  be  no 
curly  hair,  and  no  saint  should  be  bald.  Beards  also  should 
be  debarred,  and  birds  or  animals  should  be  kept  out  of 
the  picture.  Our  Lord  and  the  Blessed  must  be  very 
white,  and  with  vivid  colored  robes,  red,  blue,  scarlet, 
but  not  green  or  brown.  Let  the  saints  coming  down  from 
heaven  be  as  white  as  snow,  with  bright  garments,  and  with 
a  happy  smiling  countenance,  looking  affectionately  on  the 

34G 


CHARLES   GARNIER 

spectators  and  pointing  to  a  motto  above :  *  The  eye  hath 
not  seen,'  etc." 

It  is  somewhat  starthng  to  find  the  gentle  Garnier 
describing  a  damned  soul  as  follows :  "  Have  it  represented 
as  roasted  and  black  in  the  fire;  put  fiames  above  the  head, 
and  fire  behind  it,  with  some  in  front  here  and  there,  but 
not  so  as  to  hide  the  sufferer.  The  eyes  should  be  glitter- 
ing, the  mouth  open  as  if  screaming,  and  from  it  fire  should 
issue  and  also  from  the  nose,  eyes  and  ears.  The  whole 
face  should  be  pinched  and  wrinkled  and  the  hair  on  end; 
the  hands,  feet,  and  waist  bound  with  fiery  iron  chains. 
Put  a  frightful  dragon  squirming  around  the  victim,  and 
biting  him  near  the  ear.  Remember  to  put  horrible  scales 
on  the  beast,  and  not  a  beautiful  blue  as  I  have  seen.  There 
may  be  two  devils  on  either  side  tearing  the  body  with  iron 
hooks,  and  another  above  lifting  the  victim  by  the  hair. 
Do  this,  dear  Brother,  and  God  will  reward  you."  Evidently 
the  sw^eet  Father  Garnier  could  have  written  a  "  Hell 
Opened  for  Christians,"  but  his  unimpressionable  Hurons 
would  not  have  been  satisfied  with  any  minor  horrors. 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  at  Ossossane,  a  poor  tribe  called 
the  Ouenrohrononnons,  in  the  Neutral  country,  fled  to  the 
Hurons  for  protection.  Their  own  people  would  give 
them  no  help,  and  so  they  miserably  dragged  them- 
selves, sick  and  starving,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and 
forty  miles  with  their  packs  on  their  backs  to  Huronia, 
where  they  were  welcomed,  and  distributed  among  the 
various  hamlets.  They  were  a  god-send  for  the  mis- 
sionaries, because  the  poor  exiles  eagerly  listened  to  the 
word  of  God.  It  was  among  them  that  Garnier  first  exer- 
cised his  apostolic  zeal.  His  knowledge  of  medicine,  w^hat- 
ever  it  amounted  to,  came  in  handy,  for  there  were  many 
sufferers  among  the  newcomers,  and  the  skill  of  some  of 
the  mission  servants  was  especially  noticeable  on  this  oc- 
casion. Indeed  these  helpers  were  such  remarkable  men 
that  Father  Lalemant  thanks  the  governor  for  having  sent 

347 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

them.  Not  only  did  they  render  efficient  service  in  caring 
for  the  bodily  ills  of  the  poor  wretches  around  them,  but 
they  were  very  efficient  in  getting  the  Indians  to  understand 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church.  It  would  have  been  an  excellent 
opportunity,  Lalemant  wTote,  for  a  regular  practitioner 
who  might  want  to  devote  himself  to  apostolic  work,  but 
needless  to  say,  there  were  none  to  spare  in  Quebec.  In- 
deed, much  later  on  we  find  Lalemant  himself  when  down 
in  the  city,  victimized  by  a  quack,  the  first  Canadian  prac- 
titioner. 

Garnier  was  one  of  those  who  had  to  face  the  storm 
that  broke  out  against  the  priests  when  they  were  accused 
of  having  brought  the  pestilence  into  Huronia,  and  his  name 
appears  among  the  signatures  to  the  farewell  letter  which 
de  Brebeuf  wrote  when  the  massacre  of  the  missionaries 
seemed  imminent.  We  have  given  elsewhere  the  descrip- 
tion of  that  heroic  assembly  in  the  hut  at  Ossossane.  When 
the  storm  had  spent  itself  he  began  his  labors  with  the 
others,  and  astonished  de  Brebeuf  by  the  facility  with  which 
he  learned  the  language  of  the  Indians,  but  especially  by 
the  fascmation  which  he  exercised  not  only  over  his  neo- 
phytes, but  even  over  the  savages  who  remained  pagans. 
For  him  their  good  cjualities  alone  seemed  to  be  in  evidence, 
and  he  appeared  to  forget  their  hideous  vices  and  brutality. 
He  always  found  excuses  for  the  worst  of  them,  and  no 
one  ever  heard  him  speak  harshly  of  their  shortcomings. 
He  was  a  persistent  optimist  in  that,  as  in  almost  everything 
else,  and  it  may  explain  how  it  is,  that  we  meet  in  his  life  and 
letters  frequent  examples  of  nobility  in  the  savage,  which 
come  as  a  relief  in  the  midst  of  the  horrors  with  which  the 
story  of  the  missions  abounds.  The  Indian  was,  indeed, 
very  far  from  being  the  noble  creature  such  as  romances 
describe  him,  but  he  was  nevertheless  capable  of  splendid 
human  actions,  even  before  his  regeneration  by  the  Faith, 
but,  of  course,  more  than  ever  when  assisted  by  divine  grace. 

We  have  a  striking  instance  of  this  in  an  act  of  brotherly 

348 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

love  by  which  one  of  them  distinguished  himself.  He  was 
a  young  brave  in  all  the  vigor  of  manhood,  and  gave 
every  promise  of  being  in  the  future  an  efficient  worker  in 
the  conversion  of  his  people.  He  was  out  fishing  with  a 
party  of  Ossossane  Indians,  when  they  were  suddenly  at- 
tacked by  a  number  of  savages  coming  no  one  knew 
whence.  The  young  Huron  fought  like  a  tiger  in  defence 
of  his  fellow  tribesmen,  but  his  solicitude  was  exerted 
chiefly  in  protecting  his  little  brother,  whom  the  enemy 
were  trying  to  kill  or  capture.  He  kept  the  boy  close  to 
him  and  took  every  blow  of  the  knife  or  tomahawk  of  the 
assailants.  He  succeeded  in  saving  the  boy,  but  finally  fell 
in  a  heap,  all  mangled  and  bloody  over  the  body  of  the  boy, 
and  the  enemy  thinking  them  both  dead  withdrew.  Gar- 
nier  found  them  lying  together  on  the  river  bank,  the 
boy  comparatively  unhurt,  but  the  young  brave  gasping  in 
death.  By  a  prayer  that  seemed  almost  miraculous  in  its 
power,  he  restored  him  to  consciousness,  and  baptized  him 
before  he  expired. 

There  must  have  been  a  strain  of  nobility  in  that  Indian 
family,  at  least  in  a  portion  of  it.  The  young  sister  of  the 
brave  was  dying,  and  the  priest  hurried  to  see  her;  but  her 
father,  a  fierce  old  sorcerer,  endeavored  to  drive  him  out 
of  the  lodge,  while  her  harridan  of  a  mother  screamed 
maledictions  against  the  black  robe.  But  although  in  her 
agony,  the  girl  found  voice  enough  to  exclaim :  "  I  will 
obey  neither  of  you;  I  will  not  be  lost;  I  must  be  baptized." 
They  pleaded  with  her  and  threatened  her,  but  she  per- 
sisted, and  in  spite  of  the  menaces  of  the  parents,  Garnier 
baptized  her,  and  she  went  to  heaven  to  join  her  noble 
brother.  But  it  was  a  hard  thing  for  the  missionary  to 
explain  how  both  of  these  chosen  souls  should  have  been 
taken,  while  the  other  occupants  of  the  lodge  remained  im- 
mune from  the  pestilence. 

He  tells  us  of  another  instance  of  fraternal  affection  among 
his  Indians.    A  little  child  fell  into  a  hole  in  the  ice,  and  with- 

349 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

out  a  moment's  hesitation  his  brother  plunged  after  him 
into  the  black  and  rapid  current  below.  No  one  ever  ex- 
pected to  see  them  again,  but  in  a  few  moments  they  emerged 
from  an  opening  further  down  the  stream,  the  young  fellow 
holding  the  rescued  child  in  his  arms.  All  of  which  is  com- 
forting, but  one  cannot  help  recalling  how  the  very  reverse 
of  this  occurred  to  Jogues  among  the  Mohawks.  Though 
he  could  not  swim,  he  plunged  into  the  rapids  to  save  a 
poor  squaw  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  while  the  Indians 
looked  stolidly  on  as  all  three  were  struggling  with 
death.  No  help  at  all  was  proffered.  But  perhaps  the 
poor  squaw  had  no  brother,  and  had  not  the  good  fortune 
of  the  young  woman  whom  Garnier  met  on  his  expedition 
among  the  Petuns.  She  was  one  of  a  band  that  was 
trudging  with  the  missionary  amid  the  driving  snow  over 
a  frozen  lake.  The  cold  was  intense  and  the  girl  began 
to  show  signs  of  numbness,  and  was  about  to  sink  in  her 
tracks,  when  her  brother  instantly  stripped  the  heavy  furs 
from  his  own  shoulders  and  wrapping  her  in  them  forced 
her  to  run  with  all  speed  to  her  destination.  She  reached 
the  village,  but  he  fell  dead  in  the  snow.  Garnier  seems 
to  have  met  with  many  such  acts  of  devotion.  They  are 
very  welcome  amid  the  recurrent  horrors  that  make  up  the 
ordinary  history  of  those  savage  tribes. 


350 


CHAPTER  III. 
Chiwatenwa. 

In  1640  Garnier  was  sent  with  Jogues  among  the  Petun 
or  Tobacco  Indians,  so-called  because  of  their  love  for  the 
weed  which  they  cultivated  extensively.  One  is  almost 
tempted  to  call  their  country  Petunia  as  a  companion-desig- 
nation for  that  of  Huronia,  but  that  name  has  been  pre- 
empted by  a  beautiful  flower  and  of  course  is  not  available. 
It  lay  west  of  Huronia  on  what  are  called  the  Blue  Hills. 
Because  of  the  name  of  the  mission  which  Garnier  estab- 
lished, the  country  was  also  called  "  The  Mountains  of  St. 
John." 

If  we  scan  the  map,  we  shall  see  that  Ossossane,  the  vil- 
lage of  Huronia  from  which  Garnier  and  Jogues  set  out 
is  on  Nottawasaga  Bay.  Letting  the  eye  travel  along  the 
southern  rim  of  that  expanse  of  water,  we  find  the  town 
of  Collingwood.  Going  northwest  from  there  and  con- 
tinuing up  past  the  inlet,  know  as  Owen  Sound  as  far  as 
the  end  of  the  Peninsula  which  shuts  off  Georgian  Bay 
from  Lake  Huron,  we  have  traversed  one  of  the  boundaries 
of  the  Petun  country.  Then  proceeding  south  along  the 
shores  of  the  great  lake  itself,  past  the  present  town  of 
Southampton,  and  keeping  on  until  we  reach  Goderich, 
we  have  arrived  at  what  was  probably  the  southern  limit 
of  the  territory  on  the  west.  From  that  by  running  a  line 
eastward  to  a  point  perhaps  a  little  below  Barrie  on  Lake 
Simcoe,  we  have  the  frontier  between  the  Petuns  and  their 
neighbors,  the  Neutrals,  on  the  south. 

The  name  Petuns  was  not  the  only  one  by  which  the 
inhabitants  of  that  tract  were  known.  Their  appellatives 
are  bewildering  for  any  one  but  an  expert,  who  may  find 
them  if  he  wishes  in  the  "  Relations."     They  appear  first 

351 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

as  the  "  Khiomontaterronnons  "  and  from  that  the  name 
runs  through  a  figure  of  eleven  or  twelve  variations,  such 
as  "  Etionontatehronnons,''  "  Tionontateheronnons,"  etc., 
ending  finally  in  what  is  declared  to  be  "  corrupt  English," 
but  which  has  a  paternal  look  about  it,  namely  "Diondadies." 

On  the  first  apostolic  expedition  the  missionaries  visited 
nine  villages,  to  each  of  which  they  gave  the  name  of  an 
apostle.  With  the  exception  of  St.  John  and  St.  Barnabas, 
which  are  below  Collingwood,  and  consequently  near  the 
Huron  frontier,  the  sites  of  these  villages  have  not  yet  been 
determined.  "  It  is  the  richest  mission  of  all,"  Garnier 
wrote  to  his  superior,  "  because  of  the  crosses  and  sufferings 
you  meet  here."  If  it  was  more  abundantly  supplied  in 
that  respect  than  Huronia,  the  missionaries  must  have 
abounded  in  opportunities  for  penance. 

They  could  not  induce  any  Indian  at  Ossossane  to  show 
them  the  way,  "  so  we  took  the  Angels  for  our  guides," 
\vhich  everyone  will  admit  was  better.  "  We  reached  the 
principal  village,  which  was  called  St.  Peter  and  Paul,  over 
roads  that  were  altogether  too  bad  for  any  one  who  was 
not  seeking  God.  Unfortunately  about  midway  in  our 
journey,  we  missed  a  little  path  which  would  have  led 
us  to  some  cabins  near  the  main  trail,  so  we  had  to  pass 
the  night  in  a  pine  wood.  It  was  a  damp  place,  but  we 
could  do  no  better  just  then ;  and  with  some  difficulty  we 
found  a  few  bits  of  dried  wood  to  make  a  fire,  and  some 
branches  to  sleep  on.  There  was  danger  for  a  time  of 
the  snow  putting  out  our  fire,  but  fortunately  the  storm 
subsided  and,  thanks  be  to  God,  we  passed  the  night  very 
comfortably."     They  were  easily  pleased. 

"  Next  morning  we  found  the  cabins  that  we  were  looking 
for,  but  could  not  get  any  corn  in  the  place.  However, 
we  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  a  party  that  was  setting 
out,  so  we  joined  them.  We  were  glad  to  do  so  for  the 
snow  had  covered  all  the  trails,  and  such  was  the  condition 
of  the  country  all  day  long  that  towards  night  we  had  to 

352 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

walk  a  full  league  by  the  glitter  or  glare  of  the  snow,  and 
we  reached  the  village,  which  we  called  St.  Thomas,  at  eight 
o'clock.  We  had  a  good  appetite,  for  we  had  eaten  only  a 
crust  of  bread  that  day.  While  we  were  wondering  if 
there  were  any  sick  people  in  the  neighborhood,  a  young 
brave  invited  us  to  his  cabin  and  to  our  delight  we  found 
there  an  old  squaw  who  was  at  the  point  of  death,  and 
who  seemed  to  be  only  waiting  for  our  coming.  She  re- 
ceived us  gladly,  and  we  instructed  and  baptized  her." 
Garnier  did  not  plead  that  he  was  too  tired  to  see  her. 

Other  apostolic  discoveries  of  like  nature  are  duly 
recorded,  but  the  whole  country  looked  at  them  askance, 
and  angry  comments  were  heard  every  where  about  their 
purpose.  The  women  gathered  up  their  children  and  fled, 
screaming  out  at  the  top  of  their  voices  that  the  black- 
robes  were  bringing  pestilence  and  famine  in  the  land;  the 
men  scowled  at  them  and  every  door  was  shut  in  their 
faces — an  outrageous  breach  of  hospitality,  for  the  stranger 
is  always  free  to  enter  a  wigwam.  One  chief  admitted 
them,  but  became  frightened  when  he  saw  them  on  their 
knees  late  in  the  night.  "  Now  I  know  you  are  sorcerers," 
he  cried.  "  What  do  you  mean  by  these  postures  that  we 
have  never  seen  in  this  country  before?  "  He  drove  them 
out  by  dint  of  ill  treatment,  and  when  they  started  for  the 
next  village,  runners  preceded  them  to  warn  the  people  of 
their  coming.  It  was  a  hungry  and  a  weary  day  for  the 
poor  wayfarers.  They  could  get  no  food  in  the  place 
they  left,  and  not  a  morsel  passed  their  lips  till  nightfall. 
But  they  consoled  themselves  because  they  had  baptized 
some  "  little  monster  "  of  a  baby  whom  a  band  of  refugee 
Neutrals  had  with  them.  "  The  poor  little  misshapen  thing 
became  an  angel." 

They  found  a  shelter  in  the  village,  but  there  was  a  feast 
of  the  devil  going  on  that  night  in  the  cabin,  and  in- 
cantations and  dances,  and  the  throwing  of  tobacco  and 
fat  in  the  fire  went  on  hour  after  hour.     It  was  all  to  cure 

353 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  sick  person  who  had  not  fulfilled  the  injunctions 
imposed  by  a  dream.  But  even  that  shelter  was  only  tem- 
porary; so  they  resumed  their  tramp,  never  passing  two 
days  in  one  place,  and  finding  the  country  more  disturbed 
as  they  advanced.  Mobs  would  gather  outside  the  lodge 
at  midnight  ordering  them  to  be  off,  and  in  one  instance 
a  savage  started  up  from  his  sleep  and  drove  them  out  into 
the  dark.  They  could  do  nothing  but  plod  along  through 
snow,  and  rain,  and  cold,  and  ice  only  to  find  some  angry 
savage  at  the  entrance  of  the  next  village,  with  an  uplifted 
tomahawk,  threatening  to  brain  them  if  they  approached. 

It  is  somewhat  amusing  to  be  told  in  the  story  that  at 
this  juncture  one  of  the  Fathers  fell  sick.  It  was  not  sur- 
prising; but  we  regret  not  to  know  whether  it  was  Garnier 
or  Jogues.  The  sufferer  recovered  shortly,  and  his  treat- 
ment in  the  time  of  convalescence  was  on  the  same  heroic 
lines  as  those  that  led  him  into  sickness.  At  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  he  and  his  companion  were  driven  out  of 
the  wigwam  without  a  bit  to  eat,  and  were  compelled  to 
tramp  off  to  another  place  thirty-three  or  thirty-six  miles 
away.  They  had  nothing  but  a  handful  of  bread,  and 
"  such  bread,"  writes  Le  Mercier,  "  you  would  not  give  to 
a  dog  in  France."  But  they  did  some  good  here  and  there 
among  the  stray  Indians  they  met,  and  they  thought  that 
was  worth  a  thousand  times  greater  hardships. 

They  could  not  have  held  out  much  longer,  and  they 
themselves  were  convinced  that  they  should  die  or  be  killed. 
Just  then  the  heroic  figure  of  the  Huron,  Joseph  Chiwa- 
tenwa,  appeared  on  the  scene. 

This  wonderful  Indian  deserves  more  than  a  passing 
notice.  He  is  continually  to  the  fore  in  the  records 
of  those  early  days,  and  around  his  picturesque  life 
an  Indian  drama  might  be  easily  constructed.  He 
was  baptized  on  the  15th  of  August,  1638,  and  received 
the  name  of  Joseph.  He  was  in  danger  of  death  at  the 
time,  but  had  been  lon-g  under  instruction,  and  was  leading 

354 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

meanwhile  a  wonderfully  holy  life.  Anyone  else  but  those 
too-exacting  missionaries  would  have  made  him  a  Chris- 
tian long  before.  Indeed,  Jerome  Lalemant,  after  seven 
years'  experience,  solemnly  affirmed  that  they  had  been  too 
timorous  about  the  perseverance  of  their  neophytes,  and  too 
exacting  in  the  dispositions  for  baptism.  Many  a  thing 
they  thought  to  be  sinful  was  only  coarseness,  simplicity  or 
perhaps  stupidity. 

Chiwatenwa,  at  the  time  of  his  baptism,  was  thirty-five 
years  old  or  thereabouts.  There  was  nothing  of  the  savage 
in  him  except  his  name.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the  first 
families  of  Ossossane,  for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
social  distinctions  were  observed  among  the  aborigines.  He 
was  clever,  not  merely  when  compared  with  those  around 
him,  but  the  missionaries  were  of  the  opinion  that  he  would 
be  considered  such  even  in  France.  He  had  a  marvellous 
memory,  and  never  forgot  a  word  he  was  taught.  He 
was  a  constant  delight  to  the  priests,  as  they  listened  to 
him  explaining  the  mysteries  of  Christianity  to  the  won- 
dering red  men.  He  married  when  he  was  very  young, 
and  never  had  but  one  wife — an  extraordinary  thing  in 
such  surroundings  where  wives  were  changed  with  the 
seasons,  and  when  every  one  was  an  early  profligate.  He 
never  gambled,  and  did  not  even  know  how  to  deal  the 
cards,  or  rather  the  straws  which  the  Indians  made  use 
of ;  and  what  will  edify  some  modern  white  men  he  never 
used  tobacco,  which  the  good  missionary  informs  us  "  was 
the  wine  and  drunkenness  of  those  parts."  His  spiritual 
guides  were  shocked,  however,  to  find  that  he  cultivated 
the  weed  in  his  garden,  but  he  assured  them  it  was  only 
for  pastime  or  to  give  to  his  friends,  and  also  to  help  him 
to  buy  what  he  needed.  The  Fathers  were  very  severe,  and 
exacting,  and  Joseph  was  a  casuist. 

He  also  had  in  his  possession  a  charm,  a  rabbit's  foot 
or  something  of  the  kind,  an  oki  in  a  word,  which  had 
been  bequeathed  to  him  by  his  deceased  father,  and  was 

355 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

considered  to  be  a  priceless  treasure,  for  it  had  brought 
his  progenitors  much  kick.  But  Joseph  never  used  it ;  nor 
did  he  ever  take  part  in  any  of  the  banquets  where  the  devil 
was  invoked.  He  was  of  a  very  kindly  nature,  wonderfully 
teachable,  and,  unlike  the  ordinary  Indians,  eager  to  learn. 
He  succeeded  even  in  being  able  to  read  and  write,  the 
former  of  which  he  found  the  more  difficult.  What  first 
led  him  to  the  Faith  was  a  discourse  of  de  Brebeuf's  in  one 
of  the  preparatory  councils  of  the  Feast  of  the  Dead,  and 
he  was  also  much  touched  when  he  heard  the  explanations 
given  to  the  plague-stricken  people  about  the  way  to  profit 
by  their  affliction.  Of  his  own  accord  he  began  to  study 
the  Commandments,  and  to  ridicule  the  prevailing  super- 
stitions of  the  tribe.  He  often  went  to  the  priests'  cabin, 
but  only  to  discuss  religious  matters,  never  to  beg  like 
the  other  Indians.  He  had  his  own  children  baptized,  and 
induced  others  to  imitate  his  example.  Finally,  when  he 
found  that  he  was  going  to  be  taken  down  with  the  fever, 
he  came  to  inquire  how  he  should  pray  during  his  sickness. 

\\'hen  he  fell  ill  he  was  very  anxious  that  no  superstitious 
remedy  should  be  employed  for  his  recovery.  The  priests 
saw  to  that,  and  took  full  charge  of  him  corporally  as  well 
as  spiritually.  The  poor  patient  observed  the  minutest 
directions  even  when  blunders  were  made  in  caring  for 
him.  He  sank  rapidly,  and  at  last  baptism  was  suggested. 
"  Baptism!"  he  exclaimed.  "  It  is  not  for  me  to  speak  of 
that,  but  you.  I  have  asked  you  a  hundred  times,  and  you 
never  came  into  the  cabin  that  I  did  not  wonder  if  you  were 
going  to  baptize  me."  Of  course  the  sacrament  could  no 
longer  be  deferred,  and  after  it.  the  sufferer  showed  not 
only  Christian  resignation,  but  the  piety  of  an  old  monk. 
Even  in  his  delirium  he  was  speaking  of  God.  Happily, 
he  recovered  two  days  after  his  baptism,  and  could  never 
do  enough  to  express  his  gratitude  for  the  love  that  was 
shown  him. 

When  he  was  sufficientlv  strong,  he  invited  his  friends 

356 


CHARLES  GARNIER. 

to  a  great  banquet  which  he  made  as  splendid  as  possible. 
He  began  it  with  asking  a  blessing,  and  then,  as  master 
of  the  feast,  he  made  a  great  many  speeches,  in  all  of  which 
he  explained  the  mysteries  of  the  Faith.  Every  one  listened 
with  astonishment  at  the  amount  of  knowledge  he  dis- 
played, and  withdrew  discussing  all  they  had  heard.  A 
short  time  afterwards,  he  went  to  the  chapel  to  make  a 
public  offer  of  his  services  to  the  Fathers.  Nor  did  he 
ever  fail  to  live  up  to  his  promise  of  leading  a  life  of  holi- 
ness. Indeed,  extraordinary  things  are  told  about  his 
piety,  his  delicacy  of  conscience  and  his  courage  in  the  midst 
of  afflictions.  His  enthusiasm  for  the  Faith  was  com- 
municated to  his  pagan  relatives ;  one  of  them,  for  instance, 
forbidding  his  sick  wife  the  use  of  any  superstitious  prac- 
tices for  her  cure.  To  conquer  his  natural  affection  he 
offered  to  God  his  youngest  child,  to  whom  he  was  very 
much  attached,  and  repeated  the  offer  a  hundred  times  a 
day,  if  it  were  the  Divine  \^'ill  the  boy  should  die.  When 
the  little  one  was  taken,  Chiwatenwa  came  before  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  and  spoke  like  Abraham  to  God  while  the 
priest  left  him  standing  there,  and  hurried  off  to  console 
the  afflicted  mother.  His  prayers  for  the  tribe  pronounced 
aloud  in  the  chapel,  the  "  Relation "  assures  us,  would 
have  melted  the  heart  of  a  stone.  He  feared  no  one,  and 
on  all  occasions  gloried  in  the  name  they  gave  him  of  "  The 
Believer,"  and  he  preached  the  Faith  on  every  occasion; 
in  the  cabins,  on  the  trail,  in  the  councils,  and  always  with 
an  eloquence,  a  power  of  illustration,  and  a  thoroughness 
and  quickness  in  replying  to  objections  that  astonished 
everyone. 

News  had  come  of  the  dangers  that  threatened  Jogues 
and  Garnier  among  the  Petuns.  Immediately  Chiwatenwa 
exclaimed,  "  I  will  go  there."  His  wife  entreated  him  not 
to  leave  her.  The  children  were  sick,  and  she  feared  he 
would  never  return,  but  he  tenderly  consoled  her,  and 
started  out  for  what  might  be  death  in  the  wild  storm  that 

357 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

was  then  raging.  The  weather  was  frightful.  The  cold 
was  splitting  the  trees,  and  a  biting  wind  was  driving  into 
his  face  as  he  hurried  along.  But  his  ardor  in  the  work 
made  his  suffering  seem  a  trifle.  To  his  great  delight  he 
found  them.     Their  joy  must  have  been  greater  than  his. 

He  went  around  with  them  from  village  to  village. 
Cabin  after  cabin  turned  them  away,  and  even  his  relations 
reproached  him  for  going  about  with  sorcerers,  and  did 
not  hesitate  to  expel  him  as  well  as  his  companions.  One 
night  a  Petun  declared  that  he  was  going  to  kill  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  immediately  seized  his  hatchet  and  started 
out  to  execute  his  threat.  Luckily  they  had  both  changed 
their  sleeping  quarters  that  night,  and  while  the  crazy  In- 
dian was  hunting  for  them  Chiwatenwa  came  up  and  quickly 
disarmed  him.  Only  one  place  received  them  well,  and 
that  bit  of  humanity  was  shown  not  by  the  Petuns,  but  by 
an  old  man  belonging  to  another  tribe. 

When  they  attempted  to  go  to  the  great  town  of  Sts. 
Peter  and  Paul,  where  the  missionaries  had  already  been, 
they  found  every  door  shut,  and  heard  the  squaws  screaming 
from  the  lodges :  "  where  are  the  braves  who  said  they 
would  kill  these  men  if  they  returned?"  From  one  place 
they  were  driven  away  in  the  dead  of  night,  and  were  then 
pursued  by  a  party  of  savages  armed  with  tomahawks. 
Luckily  the  pursuers  missed  the  trail ;  and  when  the  chief 
followed  next  day  to  express  regret  for  what  had  hap- 
pened, Chiwatenwa  opened  upon  him  with  a  fiery  speech. 
"  It  is  not  these  blackrobes  who  are  disturbing  the  country, 
but  you  who  will  not  listen  to  the  important  things  they 
have  to  tell  you.  You  laugh  at  me  and  call  me  *  The 
Believer.'  That  is  my  greatest  glory.  You  know  me,  and 
you  know  my  people.  I  am  proud  to  follow  the  teachings 
of  these  great  men.  Our  ancestors  were  excusable,  for 
they  never  heard  what  you  have  heard,  but  you  will  be 
punished  a  thousand  times  worse  than  they,  if  you  remain 
in  the  degradation   from  which  the  missionaries   wish  to 

358 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

raise  you,"  and  so  on.  The  old  Petun  listened  in  silence; 
grunted  out  "  True,"  and  then  changed  the  subject,  just 
like  a  civilized  man. 

Finally  they  gave  up  the  work  as  hopeless,  and  returned 
to  Ossossane,  and  Chiwatenwa  was  commissioned  to  go 
down  to  Quebec  with  a  letter  to  Father  Vimont.  Alas ! 
he  never  went.  He  was  murdered.  On  the  evening  of  the 
2d  of  August,  1640,  two  Iroquois  crept  up  stealthily  behind 
him  in  the  woods.  They  ran  him  through  the  body  with 
a  sword  and  crushed  his  skull  with  two  blows  of  a  toma- 
hawk, and  then  tearing  off  his  scalp  disappeared.  He  had 
gone  out  in  the  forest  to  cut  some  saplings  for  the  boat 
that  was  to  carry  him  to  Quebec.  Three  of  his  little  nieces 
were  with  him,  and  while  walking  out  to  where  he  intended 
to  work  he  spoke  of  God's  goodness,  and  made  them  kneel 
down  and  pray.  As  they  wanted  to  enter  the  woods,  he  sent 
them  back  telling  them  it  was  a  dangerous  place.  After  a 
while  finding  that  he  did  not  return,  his  people  went  out 
to  look  for  him,  and  to  their  horror  found  his  mangled 
remains.  There  was  evidence  of  a  fierce  fight  having  taken 
place,  and  they  noted  what  had  caused  his  death ;  the  thrust 
of  the  sword.  If  it  had  not  been  for  that  weapon,  they  felt 
sure  that  their  valiant  warrior  would  have  won  the  victory. 
There  was  great  mourning  for  him,  but  most  of  all  among 
the  missionaries,  who  felt  as  if  one  of  themselves  had  been 
slain.  So  ended  this  glorious  Christian,  Joseph  Chiwa- 
tenwa, who  looks  as  if  he  might  be  one  of  America's  un- 
canonized  saints. 


259 


CHAPTER   IV. 
The   Crash. 

In  the  following  year  Garnier,  accompanied  by  Pijart, 
made  another  attempt  to  evangelize  these  intractable  To- 
bacco people.  The  results  were  only  a  little  better,  but 
the  two  easily  satisfied  missionaries  were  overjoyed  because 
they  succeeded  in  having  a  council  assemble  to  discuss  the 
question  of  admittance  to  the  country.  Opinion  was  di- 
vided; some  of  the  chiefs  clamoring  for  the  death  of  the 
intruders,  and  others  granting  full  permission  for  them 
to  go  wherever  they  wished.  So  the  two  brave  men  took 
their  chances  and  started  off.  It  was  to  a  great  extent 
a  repetition  of  the  previous  year's  experiences,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  village  which  received  them  with  great  en- 
thusiasm, though  the  chief  had  declared  that  to  go  there 
meant  death.  They  had  an  adventure,  also,  v^^hich  always 
remained  a  puzzle  for  them,  in  spite  of  their  knowledge 
of  the  native  customs.  Just  as  they  were  emerging  from 
a  wood,  waist  deep  in  the  snow,  and  with  their  packs  on 
their  backs,  they  suddenly  felt  heavy  hands  on  their  shoul- 
ders ;  and  a  wild  yell :  "  You  are  dead !  "  rent  the  air.  They 
were  flung  on  their  backs  in  the  snow,  and  they  lay  there 
expecting  a  blow  of  a  tomahawk.  But  nothing  happened. 
A  deep  silence  ensued ;  and  when  they  staggered  to  their 
feet,  they  saw  a  number  of  Indians,  stark  naked,  scampering 
away  in  all  directions  over  the  snow.  What  it  meant  they 
never  found  out;  but  it  is  probable  that  they  had  accidently 
stumbled  upon  some  incantation  ceremony  in  the  forest. 
If  it  were  so,  they  thought  that  the  devil  was  a  hard  task- 
master to  exact  such  scant  covering  for  his  devotees  in 
weather  such  as  they  were  suffering  from  at  the  time. 

We  are  unable  to  follow  Garnier  year  by  year  after  this 

360 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

second  expedition.  We  merely  know  that  he  labored  in 
every  one  of  the  Huron  missions,  and  every  where  was  re- 
garded with  wonder  by  his  brethren.  For  them  he  was  an 
angel,  forever  walking  in  the  presence  of  God.  He  thought 
of  nothing  else  but  his  apostolic  work.  Even  letters  from 
France  had  no  interest  for  him.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  was  nothing  rude  or  repellant  about  him.  On  the  con- 
trary he  was  a  most  attractive  man.  His  words,  gestures, 
smile,  all  won  the  people  to  him ;  but  it  was  more  than  a 
natural  influence.  Though  brought  up  in  all  the  refinements 
and  delicacy  of  a  noble  family  in  France,  he  loved  the 
savages;  he  preferred  their  food;  and  the  dirt  and  loath- 
someness of  their  cabins  never  seemed  to  shock  him.  He 
would  nurse  some  poor  sick  creature  for  months,  though 
the  odor  was  insupportable  for  every  one  in  the  cabin. 
The  "  Relation  "  tells  us,  that  he  would  plunge  headlong 
into  the  midst  of  a  wild  fight  that  might  be  raging  among 
the  Indians,  and  in  a  few  minutes,  or  sometimes  by  the 
first  word  he  said,  restore  peace  and  tranquillity.  He  could 
even  take  hold  of  a  raving  maniac,  and  bring  him  to  his 
senses.  His  bed  was  the  bare  ground ;  and  he  would  chas- 
tise his  emaciated  body  with  iron  disciplines,  or  with  sharp 
pointed  chains  which  cut  into  his  flesh.  He  was  always 
panting  for  martyrdom ;  and  in  a  letter  to  his  brother,  about 
this  time,  he  said  he  was  confident  he  would  soon  be  a 
victim.  Whenever  the  Iroquois  appeared  he  was  hoping 
they  would  take  him  prisoner.  "  I  might  do  some  good  to 
them,"  he  said,  "  before  they  put  me  to  death." 

In  1648,  he  was  sent  back  to  the  Petuns  along  with 
Father  Garreau,  but  they  were  unable  to  penetrate  very  far 
into  the  country,  and  merely  established  two  stations 
not  far  from  the  Huron  border,  which  were  called  res- 
pectively St.  Matthias  and  St.  John,  but  were  known  as 
the  Indian  villages  of  Ekarreniondi  and  Etharita. 
Their  exact  location  has  not  yet  been  positively  verified, 
but   if   Ekarreniondi   or  Standing  Rock  is   identical   with 

361 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  weird  place  still  in  those  parts,  and  which  Is  now  known 
as  "  Devil's  Glen,"  it  would  not  be  hard  to  determine  the 
exact  location  of  Etarhita,  and  thus  the  holy  place  where 
the  precious  remains  of  Father  Garnier  have  been  slum- 
bering for  more  than  260  years  could  be  found.  Such  is  the 
impression  of  the  careful  topographer  whom  we  have  often 
quoted,  Father  Arthur  E.  Jones,  S.J. 

Conditions  in  St.  John's  were  at  their  worst.  Chabanel 
had  been  sent  down  to  help,  but  had  been  recalled  by 
Ragueneau  for  the  reason  that  it  was  easier  to  find  food  for 
one  than  two,  so  Garnier  was  left  alone,  with  the  prospect 
of  dying  of  starvation,  if  he  was  not  killed  by  a  tomahawk. 
The  superior  wanted  him  to  return,  but  he  begged  to  re- 
main, saying  he  did  not  wish  to  let  the  occasion  slip  by 
of  losing  himself  for  God.  "  I  am  taking  good  care  of 
myself,"  he  said,  "  and  if  I  thought  that  my  strength  would 
give  out,  or  if  your  Reverence  really  commanded  me  to 
leave,  I  am  ready  to  give  up  everything  in  order  to  die 
in  obedience  wherever  God  wishes.  But  apart  from  that 
I  will  never  come  down  from  the  cross  where  he  has  placed 
me." 

One  of  the  last  letters  we  have  from  him  was  sent  from 
that  place,  and  is  dated  April  25,  1649.  It  is  directed  to 
his  brother.  He  says  he  is  "  a  victim  that  must  be  im- 
molated," and  he  asks  prayers  that  he  may  be  faithful  to 
the  end.  "  Ask  my  brother,  the  Capuchin,  and  any  one  else 
you  may  think  of,  to  excuse  me  for  not  writing.  I  do  not 
know  where  I  shall  be  next  year,  if  I  am  alive."  The  next 
year  never  came;  but  a  little  later,  namely  on  August  13, 
he  was  at  St.  Joseph's  Island,  and  contrived  to  send  a  last 
word  to  his  family.  He  wrote  the  reply  to  Ragueneau 
which  we  have  given,  only  three  days  before  he  fell  beneath 
the  Indian  tomahawk. 

When  the  news  came  that  the  Iroquois  were  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, the  over  confident  braves  of  Etarhita  were  de- 
lighted.    It  was  an  opportunity  to  wipe  out  many  an  old 

363 


CHARLES   GARNIER. 

score,  and  they  prepared  for  the  fight.  They  waited  and 
waited,  but  no  enemy  came.  Finally  losing  patience,  they 
started  out  to  find  them.  That  was  December  5th,  but  the 
wily  Iroquois  were  approaching  from  another  direction. 
On  December  7  they  were  right  near  St.  John's,  and  to  add 
to  their  good  luck  captured  a  man  and  a  woman  who  had 
just  left  the  village,  and  from  them  heard  of  its  defence- 
less condition.  At  three  o'clock  that  afternoon  their  war- 
whoops  were  heard  outside  the  palisades,  and  they  were 
soon  swarming  through  the  gate.  The  massacre  began  im- 
mediately. Men,  women  and  children  were  indiscrimin- 
ately slaughtered,  and  the  wigwams  set  on  fire.  Garnier 
ran  hither  and  thither,  absolving  the  dying  Christians,  drag- 
ging the  children  from  the  burning  buildings  and  baptizing 
them,  and  everywhere  exhorting  the  people  to  make  their 
peace  with  God.  Some  few  found  safety  in  flight,  and 
begged  the  priest  to  go  with  them,  but  he  refused,  though  he 
might  easily  have  escaped.  He  kept  at  his  heroic  work 
regardless  of  danger,  but  his  dress  easily  distinguished  him 
in  the  midst  of  the  wild  and  shrieking  mob,  and  a  moment 
after,  two  musket  balls  pierced  his  breast.  As  he  fell,  a 
savage  tore  the  soutane  from  his  body,  and  then  made  after 
the  fugitives.  Garnier,  lying  in  his  blood,  was  seen  to  join 
his  hands  in  prayer  to  prepare  for  death,  when  the  moan  of 
a  dying  Indian  caught  his  ear,  and  he  struggled  to  lift  him- 
self from  the  ground  to  crawl  over  to  the  sufferers,  but  he 
fell  again  with  the  blood  streaming  from  his  wounds.  He 
made  a  second  and  third  attempt.  It  was  the  last  act  of 
his  apostolic  life.  An  Indian  tomahawk  crushed  his  skull, 
and  then  stripping  him  stark  naked,  the  savages  proceeded 
to  butcher  the  other  victims.  A  poor  squaw- who  was  badly 
wounded,  and  who  lived  a  short  time  after  the  massacre, 
gave  the  Fathers  the  precious  details  of  the  last  moments 
of  the  martyr. 

The  work  was  soon  over;  the  village  was  a  heap  of  ashes, 
and  the  smoke  of  the  burning  wigwams  told  the  sad  tale 

363 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

to  the  people  of  St.  Mathias,  twelve  miles  away.  The  Iro- 
quois hurried  in  the  direction  of  the  Huron  country  where 
there  were  no  longer  any  enemies.  The  Hurons  had  been 
extirpated.  They  dragged  with  them  all  the  captives  they 
could  lay  hands  on,  and  those  who  were  unable  to  walk 
were  murdered  where  they  lay. 

It  was  a  night  of  terror  in  the  adjoining  mission ;  but  next 
morning  the  scouts  announced  that  the  enemy  had  departed, 
and  Fathers  Garreau  and  Greslon  made  their  way  to  the 
scene  of  the  disaster.  The  ghastly  spectacle  that  met  their 
gaze  filled  them  with  horror.  Mangled  corpses  littered  the 
blood-stained  snow ;  bodies,  charred  and  unrecognizable, 
lay  amid  the  smouldering  ruins  of  the  lodges,  and  on  every 
side  were  heard  the  moans  of  the  dying.  About  the  middle 
of  the  village  they  saw  a  naked  corpse,  all  splashed  with 
blood  and  blackened  by  the  ashes  of  the  burning  buildings. 
They  passed  by.  It  was  only  one  of  many  others.  But  the 
cjuick  eye  of  the  Indians  recognized  it.  They  called  to  the 
priests,  who  hurriedly  retraced  their  steps.  It  was  the 
beloved  Garnier.  They  tore  off  their  own  garments  to 
cover  him,  and  with  streaming  eyes,  and  hearts  broken  v/ith 
grief  they  buried  him  in  the  place  where  his  chapel  had  once 
stood,  but  of  which  not  a  vestige  remained.  They  could 
not  take  the  body  with  them,  for  the  Iroquois  might  return 
at  any  moment,  and  when  the  last  sad  rites  were  over  they 
hurried  back  to  St.  Mathias.  Two  days  afterwards  the 
war  party  of  the  once  jubilant  Petuns  returned  home,  and 
when  they  saw  the  tragedy  which  had  occurred  in  their 
absence,  and  for  which  their  foolish  bravery  was  responsible, 
they  sat  down  upon  the  ground  among  their  dead,  and  with 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  ground  remained  without  a  sigh,  with- 
out a  moan,  mourning  for  their  wives  and  little  ones  who 
had  been  so  ruthlessly  slaughtered. 

Father  Garnier  died  at  the  age  of  44,  on  the  eve  of  the 
Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  If  he  had  been  asked, 
he  would  have  chosen  that  day  above  all  others  to  die. 

364 


NOEL  CHABANEL 


« 

2; 
g 

to 
< 


NOEL   CHABANEL. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  life  Father  Chabanel  used  to 
say  very  frequently :  "  Mine  will  be  a  martyrdom  in  the 
gloom."  It  was  a  curious  utterance  and  its  meaning  was 
by  no  means  clear,  but  it  was  verified  in  a  very  remarkable 
manner.  Indeed  there  was  a  gloom  hanging  over  Chabanel 
during  all  his  missionary  career,  and  for  a  long  time  after 
his  death  doubt  and  uncertainty  remained  about  the  place 
and  manner  in  which  he  died.  When  he  came  to  New 
France  the  whole  colony  was  buried  in  gloom.  The  mis- 
sions were  perishing,  and  every  effort  to  relieve  them  had 
been  unsuccessful.  The  Iroquois  were  hovering  around 
Montreal  and  Three  Rivers,  and  even  Quebec  was  in  peril, 
and  then  the  news  came  over  the  ocean  that  Louis  XIII, 
who  had  the  interests  of  the  colony  so  much  at  heart  was 
dead.  All  that  was  bad  enough,  but  the  regular  vessels 
from  the  mother  country  no  longer  arrived.  Had  they 
been  lost  in  the  deep?  Spring  dragged  into  summer,  and 
it  was  already  the  month  of  August.  Still  no  vessel  ap- 
peared. At  last,  just  as  the  priest  was  about  to  begin 
Mass  on  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  two  sails  were  seen 
coming  up  the  river.  They  dropped  their  anchors  a  league 
away  from  the  fort  and  a  shallop  put  off  for  the  shore. 
On  board  the  ships  was  the  venerable  Father  Quentin. 
With  him  were  two  other  missionaries,  Garreau  and 
Chabanel,  both  of  whom  were  to  be  killed.  They  were 
welcomed  with  delight  by  Vimont,  who  wrote  that  they  were 
apt  at  learning  the  Indian  language,  but  it  was  a  sad  mis- 
take in  Chabanel's  case.  He  never  could  utter  a  word  of 
Indian  speech.  Not  that  he  was  dull.  On  the  con- 
trary he  was  a  man  of  brilliant  parts.  He  had  taught 
Rhetoric  and  Poetry  at  Rhodez  and  Toulouse,  and  might 
have  achieved  fame  if  he  had  remained  in  France. 

367 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

He  tarried  a  year  in  Quebec,  for  it  was  impossible  to 
ascend  the  river  which  was  swarming  with  Iroquois,  but 
at  last  the  governor  determined  to  force  a  passage  at  any 
cost,  and  with  twenty  soldiers,  de  Brebeuf,  Garreau  and 
Chabanel,  made  the  attempt  and  succeeded.  We  are  told 
that  the  soldiers  who  acted  as  an  escort  were  sobered  by 
the  dangers  of  the  expedition.  There  were  several  wild 
lads  among  them,  who  had  need  of  something  serious  to 
steady  them,  and  now  they  protested  that  they  had  em- 
barked on  the  enterprise  not  in  any  spirit  of  adventure  or 
to  better  their  fortunes,  but  solely  to  atone  for  the  past. 
How  long  the  poor  fellows  persevered  in  their  pious  senti- 
ments is  not  recorded. 

Chabanel  was  employed  at  St.  Mary's,  and  applied  him- 
self vigorously  to  the  study  of  the  language.  He  failed 
completely.  Though  of  superior  talents  and  possessed  of 
an  excellent  memory,  year  after  year  passed  by  and  he  could 
not  make  himself  understood  in  the  most  ordinary  mat- 
ters. Not  only  that,  but  there  developed  in  his  heart  a 
loathing  for  the  savages.  He  could  scarcely  look  at  them. 
Their  grossness  and  filth  revolted  him,  and  he  could  never 
grow  accustomed  to  the  food  which  the  other  missionaries 
were  compelled  to  eat.  What  was  worst  of  all,  the  heroic 
sentiments  with  which  he  was  formerly  actuated  vanished, 
and  while  his  brethren  were  longing  for  martyrdom,  he 
was  in  constant  dread  of  being  tortured  and  killed  by  the 
Iroquois.  A  good  many  people  will  sympathize  with  the 
poor  man. 

The  consequence  was  that  he  fell  into  a  deep  depression 
of  spirits.  He  had  been  convinced  in  France  that  he  had 
a  vocation  for  the  missions,  and  now  he  found  himself  ab- 
horring every  thing  connected  with  them.  Even  after  three 
or  four  years  application  he  could  not  say  a  word  to  the 
meanest  Indian.  Day  after  day,  and  year  after  year  the 
temptation  came  to  him :  "  Go  back  to  France ;  you  have 
been  under  a  delusion ;  your  Superiors  have  made  a  mis- 

368 


NOEL  CHABANEL. 

take;  you  have  no  vocation  for  this  kind  of  work."  But  he 
never  gave  up.  He  kept  doggedly  at  his  task,  and  finally, 
to  put  an  end  to  any  more  discussion  about  the  propriety 
of  his  remaining,  he  wrote  the  following  vow : 

"  O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  in  the  admirable  disposition 
of  Thy  Fatherly  Providence,  hast  deigned  to  call  me  though 
altogether  unworthy  to  be  a  helper  of  the  holy  apostles  who 
cultivate  the  vineyard  of  the  Hurons,  I,  Noel  Chabanel, 
impelled  by  the  desire  of  serving  the  Holy  Spirit  in  pro- 
moting the  conversion  of  the  savages  of  Huronia  to  the 
Faith,  vow,  in  presence  of  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament  of  Thy 
Body  and  Blood,  God's  testament  with  men,  perpetual 
stability  in  this  Huron  Mission,  understanding  all  this  in 
accordance  with  the  interpretations  and  arrangements  of 
the  Society  and  its  Superiors.  I  beg  Thee,  therefore,  to 
receive  me  as  the  perpetual  servant  of  this  mission,  and  to 
make  me  worthy  of  such  an  exalted  ministry,  Amen.  June 
21,  1647." 

Even  after  this,  the  temptations  did  not  cease,  but  he 
always  conquered  them,  and  God  gave  him  the  perseverance 
for  which  he  prayed.  He  now  even  looked  for  martyr- 
dom. We  do  not  know  in  what  missions  he  labored,  but  it 
is  of  no  importance ;  for  beyond  baptizing  and  saying  Mass, 
of  course  he  did  nothing.  However,  one  very  interesting 
appointment  is  revealed  in  a  letter  to  his  brother  in  France. 
"  You  came  near  having  a  martyr  for  your  brother,"  he 
wrote.  "  I  was  with  Father  de  Brebeuf  at  St.  Ignatius, 
and  was  recalled,  and  Father  Gabriel  Lalemant  took  my 
place.  In  a  month  he  was  dead."  It  was  certainly  a  nar- 
row escape,  especially  as  we  learn  from  Father  Chastelain, 
who  was  Chabanel's  spiritual  guide,  that  he  was  a  completely 
transformed  man  when  he  started  for  that  post.  "  I  do  not 
know  what  there  is  in  me,"  he  said,  "or  what  God  wishes, 
but  I  feel  completely  changed  on  one  point.  Now  that  I 
am  going  to  face  almost  certain  death,  I  feel  no  fear.  This 
do€S  not  come  from  me." 

369 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Afterward  depression  came  for  a  different  reason,  namely, 
that  he  had  escaped  death,  which  he  ascribed  to  his  own 
unworthiness.  "Alas!"  he  says,  "one  must  have  a  dif- 
ferent kind  of  virtue  than  mine.  Perhaps  I  shall  be  a 
martyr  in  umbra,  and  undergo  a  martyr iiim  sine  sanguine." 
He  was  already  suffering  a  bloodless  martyrdom  in  the 
agony  which  his  own  disposition  was  inflicting  on  him. 
*'  But  it  may  be,"  he  continues,  "  that  the  ravages  of  the 
Iroquois  will  one  day  do  the  rest  through  the  merits  of  so 
many  saints  with  whom  I  have  the  consolation  of  living." 

His  time  was  approaching.  x\fter  leaving  de  Brebeuf, 
he  was  sent  to  help  Garnier  among  the  Petuns.  There,  con- 
ditions were  much  worse  than  at  St.  Ignatius.  The  two 
priests  were  actually  starving,  and  on  December  6th 
Chabanel  was  called  to  St.  Joseph's  Island,  to  which  the  old 
mission  of  St.  Mary's  had  been  meantime  transferred. 
As  the  order  was  peremptory  he  bade  farewell  to  Garnier, 
and  started  for  St.  Mathias,  twelve  miles  further  north, 
where  he  found  Fathers  Garreau  and  Greslon,  who  were 
expecting  to  be  killed  in  a  disturbance  which  had  just  de- 
clared itself  there.  On  the  morning  of  December  7th  he 
resumed  his  journey,  taking  with  him  seven  or  eight  Indians 
as  guides.  His  last  words  to  his  two  Jesuit  brethren  were : 
*'  I  am  going  where  obedience  summons  me.  I  may  never 
arrive  there,  but  if  I  do  I  shall  ask  my  Superior  to  send  me 
back  again  to  the  mission  which  was  my  share  of  work, 
for  I  must  serve  God  until  I  die."  They  were  to  go  east- 
ward from  St.  Mathias  till  they  reached  the  Nottawasaga 
River,  which  they  had  to  cross,  and  then  proceed  along  the 
shore  of  Nottawasaga  Bay  up  to  the  head  of  the  Peninsula, 
and  from  there  get  over  the  best  way  they  could  to  St. 
Joseph's  Island.  They  made  eighteen  or  nineteen  miles 
that  day,  over  a  very  difficult  road,  and  arrived  by  night- 
fall at  a  place  where  the  Nottawasaga  makes  a  great  bend 
before  it  empties  into  the  Bay.  They  threw  themselves 
down  to  rest  in  a  dense  wood,  knowing  nothing  of  the 

370 


NOEL  CHABANEL. 

tragedy  that  had  occurred  that  very  afternoon  at  St.  John's, 
where  Father  Garnier  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  village 
had  been  killed.  But  towards  midnight,  Chabanel  heard 
a  confused  murmur  in  the  distance.  It  was  coming  nearer, 
and  he  awoke  the  sleeping  Indians.  What  could  it  be? 
Surely  not  the  Petuns,  who  had  left  St.  John's  before  the 
massacre.  They  had  gone  in  another  direction.  It  must 
be  the  Iroquois.  There  was  an  immediate  flight,  and  as  far 
as  can  be  made  out  from  the  accounts,  the  fugitives  ran 
towards  their  own  country,  and  consequently  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  approaching  Iroquois,  but,  of  course,  to  one 
side,  so  as  to  avoid  meeting  them.  Exhausted  with  hunger 
and  fatigue,  Chabanel  followed  them  a  little  while  and  then 
fell  on  his  knees,  saying  to  his  companions :  "  It  matters 
not  if  I  die.  Life  is  but  a  slight  thing  after  all,  and  the 
Iroquois  cannot  rob  me  of  Paradise."  There  the  Indians 
left  him.  Meantime,  unaware  of  the  nearness  of  the  Petuns, 
the  Iroquois  passed  on,  and  crossed  the  frontiers  of 
Huronia.  No  enemies  were  to  be  feared;  for  as  we  have 
already  said,  that  territory  was  now  deserted. 

At  day  break,  finding  himself  refreshed,  Chabanel  ap- 
pears to  have  given  up  the  idea  of  returning  to  St.  Mathias, 
whither  the  others  had  fled;  and  resumed  his  journey  to 
St.  Joseph's  Island.  He  soon  reached  the  river.  It  was 
too  wide  to  ford,  and  it  was  reported  that  an  Indian  found 
him  there  bareheaded,  without  any  of  the  traps  that  are 
usually  carried  on  such  journeys,  and  took  him  across  the 
river.  He  never  reached  St.  Joseph's.  For  a  long  time 
the  Fathers  wondered  what  had  become  of  him.  Was 
he  murdered  by  the  Iroquois;  had  he  died  of  starvation  in 
the  woods ;  or  did  the  Indian  who  carried  him  across  the 
river  kill  him?  They  strongly  suspected  that  the  last  sup- 
position was  correct,  though  they  had  no  proofs.  But  there 
was  a  strong  presumption  that  such  was  his  fate. 

Just  before  Chabanel  had  passed  through  St,  Mathias 
on  the  way  from  St.  John's  to  St.  Joseph's  Island,  a  Huron 

371 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

had  made  his  appearance  there,  and  told  a  number  of  his 
tribesmen  who  were  fugitives  among  the  Petuns  that  he 
had  been  down  at  Quebec  and  had  seen  valuable  presents 
given  to  the  Iroquois  by  Onontio,  the  governor ;  and  had 
heard  that  a  secret  treaty  had  been  made,  in  virtue  of  which 
the  French  were  to  keep  up  the  semblance  of  opposition  to 
the  Iroquois,  but  were  always  to  fight  without  bullets,  so 
that  no  Iroquois  would  be  killed,  and  that  thus  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Hurons  would  be  effected  without  openly  in- 
volving the  French. 

This  cock-and-bull  story  was  immediately  accepted  by 
the  Hurons  as  true,  and  the  excitement  became  so  intense 
that  they  succeeded  in  getting  the  Petuns  to  call  a  council 
in  the  absence  of  the  two  missionaries,  Greslon  and  Gar- 
reau.  In  the  council  it  was  determined  to  kill  them  as  soon 
as  they  returned  to  St.  Mathias.  Quite  unaware  of  what 
had  happened  the  two  missionaries  arrived.  They  saw  an 
angry  mob  of  Petuns  and  Hurons  waiting  to  receive  them, 
and  they  expected  a  blow  of  the  tomahawk  as  they  ap- 
proached, but  they  coolly  and  even  smilingly  walked  into 
the  very  midst  of  the  throng,  addressing  a  word  here  and 
there  to  friends  as  they  passed  along.  The  Indians  gasped 
in  amazement.  Each  one  waited  for  the  other  to  strike 
the  blow,  but  no  arm  was  lifted  and  the  two  priests  quietly 
entered  their  lodge. 

Among  the  Hurons  who  were  thus  stirring  up  the  Petuns 
against  the  missionaries  was  Chabanel's  boatman,  and  two 
years  afterward  he  admitted  that  he  had  murdered  the 
priest.  He  had  once  been  a  Christian,  but  on  account  of 
the  misfortunes  which  befell  him  he  left  the  Faith,  and 
became  very  bitter  in  his  hatred  of  the  missionaries,  an- 
nouncing publicly  that  he  intended  to  kill  one  of  them.  He 
did  so,  but  his  worldly  condition  was  not  improved  as  he 
expected.  On  the  contrary  all  his  people  were  either  killed 
or  led  into  captivity  by  the  Mohawks.  It  was  his  apostacy 
that  placed  the  crown  on  the  head  of  Father  Chabanel. 

372 


NOEL  CHABANEL. 

How  the  murder  was  committed  was  never  known.  Was 
Chabanel  tomahawked  and  thrown  into  the  river,  or  was 
he  drowned  ?  At  all  events  he  had  verified  the  enigmatical 
utterance  of  the  martyrium  sine  sanguine.  He  died  in  the 
shadow  and  gloom  of  the  forest,  where  he  was  all  alone  with 
the  assassin.  Nor  has  the  uncertainty  ever  been  removed 
about  the  manner  and  the  time  of  his  death.  About  the 
cause  there  is  no  doubt.  He  was  killed  out  of  hatred  for 
the  Faith. 


873 


LEONARD  GARREAU 


LEONARD  GARREAU. 

We  have  seen  how  the  column  of  smoke  that  rose  over 
Etarhita  on  the  afternoon  of  December  7,  1649,  told  Fathers 
Garreau  and  Greslon,  who  were  at  Ekareniondi  that  Father 
Gamier  was  dead.  They  awaited  their  own  turn,  and 
could  not  understand  why  the  Iroquois  did  not  come  to 
complete  the  work  of  slaughter.  They  thought  that  prob- 
ably it  was  a  savage  ruse,  and  that  later  on,  when  they 
least  expected,  the  enemy  would  swoop  down  on  them. 
Hence,  after  burying  Father  Garnier  they  quietly  prepared 
for  death,  which  might  come  as  quickly  from  their  own 
people  as  from  outside.  For  they  were  fully  aware  that 
the  plot  which  had  miscarried  a  day  or  so  before,  might 
be  organized  again.  Soon,  however,  Father  Greslon  fell 
sick,  and  was  recalled  to  St.  Joseph's  Island,  and  Father 
Garreau  was  left  all  alone.  He  was  thus  the  last  priest 
outside  of  the  general  refuge  on  St.  Joseph's  Island.  It  is 
very  singular  how  little  has  been  ever  published  about  this 
great  man.  There  are  valuable  manuscripts  in  the  archives 
of  St.  Mary's,  which  are  of  most  absorbing  interest  in  the 
revelations  they  give  of  him,  but  beyond  a  scant  notice, 
here  and  there,  very  little  of  this  material  has  found  its 
way  into  print. 

As  often  happens  when  a  man  achieves  greatness,  there 
is  an  attempt  to  discover  some  strain  of  noble  blood  in  the 
family  to  which  he  belongs — a  natural  impulse  which  is  not 
at  all  reprehensible  even  in  our  democratic  days,  and  such 
may  have  been  the  motive  that  prompted  two  of  the  curious 
letters  which  we  find  in  the  folio  labelled  "  Garrneau,"  in 
the  musty  archives  of  St.  Mary's.  One  of  them  is  from  the 
Office  Heraldiqiie  et  Historique  de  France,  a  bureau  which 
proclaims  istelf  as  engaged  in  " Recherches  Genealogiques;  " 
gives  "consultations  juridiqucs"  and  engages  in  "  travaux 

377 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

heraldiques  en  style  Moyen  Age  et  Renaissance."  It  was 
this  high  sounding  pronouncement  of  its  purpose  that  no 
doubt  induced  some  one  in  Montreal  named  Gareau  to 
inquire  if  he  was  in  any  way  connected  with  the  martyr. 
He  was  answered  by  one  of  the  principal  officials  of  the 
Bureau — a  Frenchman  of  course;  but  possessed  of  a  name 
that  comes  almost  with  a  shock.  It  is  no  less  than  "  M. 
O'Kelly  de  Galway,"  who  informs  his  correspondent  that 
Mr.  O'Kelly  alone  possesses  the  manuscript  list  of  all  the 
names  cited  in  the  condensed  inventories  of  Charente  In- 
ferieur  and  of  the  civil  list  of  La  Rochelle. 

One  expects  much  from  the  prelude,  but  the  inquirer  is 
merely  informed  that  the  name  properly  spelled  must  have 
a  double  r,  and  that  in  1660  there  was  a  Pierre  Garreau  at 
La  Rochelle  who  by  brevet  royal  had  been  courtier-jiire, 
which,  as  far  as  we  can  make  out,  is  merely  a  duly  accredited 
broker.  It  is  edifying  to  note  that  M.  O'Kelly  advises  M. 
Garreau  that  the  laborious  researches  which  were  under- 
taken imply  an  honorary  of  one  hundred  francs. 

Another  communication  is  to  the  Archivist  of  St.  Mary's 
College,  and  is  from  the  Commandant  dii  Garreau,  of  the 
6th  corps  d'armee,  5th  division  de  cavalerie  Etat  Mayor. 
This  distinguished  officer  insists  that  Father  Garreau  was 
of  his  kin,  for  the  reason  that  such  has  been  always  the 
family  tradition,  and  also  that  the  name  Leonard  is  very 
frequently  given  at  baptism.  Whatever  foundation  there 
may  be  to  his  claim,  the  fact  remains  that  the  great  mis- 
sionary never  called  himself  dii  Garreau,  and  his  fellow 
Jesuits  were  unaware  that  he  or  his  family  ever  employed 
the  prefix.  In  a  letter  written  by  Father  Ragueneau,  shortly 
after  the  tragedy,  the  hero's  brother  is  addressed  as  plain 
M.  Garreau.  It  is  true  that  in  Father  Martin's  MSS.  there 
is  a  reference  to  the  noblesse  of  the  family,  and  to  the  great 
number  of  its  dependents,  but  that  is  all  we  know  about  the 
subject. 

He   was  born   on   October   11,    1609,    in   the   town   of 

378 


LEONARD   GARREAU. 

Aredieux  or  Saint-Yriex,  in  the  Diocese  of  Limoges.  His 
mother  had  the  very  amiable  name  of  Frangoise  de  Gentil, 
and  apparently  deserved  it.  She  is  said  to  have  been  en- 
dowed with  every  womanly  virtue,  and  devoted  herself 
exclusively  to  the  training  of  her  numerous  offspring. 
There  was  enough  to  do,  for  she  was  blessed  with  no  less 
than  ten  children.  Fortunately  the  other  head  of  the  house 
was  all  that  she  could  have  desired.  He  had  served  with 
distinction  in  the  armies  of  Henry  IV,  and  when  the  wars 
were  over,  he  was  often  cited  as  the  ideal  Christian  war- 
rior. He  was  famous  for  his  benevolence  to  the  needy; 
never  pressed  his  tenants  when  the  harvests  were  poor,  and 
when  he  was  about  to  go  to  heaven,  cancelled  all  the  debts 
they  had  ever  contracted  against  him.  His  alms  always 
passed  through  the  hands  of  his  children,  but  that  excellent 
custom  developed  into  an  extravagance  in  the  case  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.  Young  Leonard  used  to  give  to 
the  poor  everything  he  could  lay  his  hands  on  in  the 
house.  When  admonished  that  well  ordered  charity  con- 
sisted in  disposing  of  one's  own  and  not  of  other  people's 
property,  he  promptly  changed  his  ways;  but  it  was  soon 
perceived  that  he  was  growing  pale  and  sickly.  Finally 
it  was  discovered  that  he  was  giving  the  greatest  part  of 
his  meals  to  the  people  he  thought  were  hungry.  After 
that,  other  means  had  to  be  devised  to  let  him  indulge  his 
benevolent  inclinations. 

The  Garreaus  must  have  been  a  very  holy  family.  Be- 
sides the  Jesuit,  two  of  the  boys  became  secular  priests 
and  another  a  Recollect  friar,  who  was  subsequently  Master 
of  Novices  in  his  Order,  Nor  were  they  slow  in  making 
up  their  minds.  Leonard's  vocation  was  decided  shortly 
after  his  birth.  He  was  a  sickly  child  and  not  expected 
to  live,  whereupon  his  mother  offered  him  to  God  and 
promised  to  let  him  enter  any  religious  order  he  chose  if 
such  were  the  Divine  Will.  She  was  rewarded  by  seeing 
the  boy  immediately  develop  into  sturdy  health.     It  is  sin- 

379 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

gular  that  the  shadow  of  death  always  had  a  formative 
influence  in  the  development  of  the  sanctity  of  Leonard 
Garreau. 

He  went  to  school  at  Limoges  and  Bordeaux  where  he 
shone  intellectually,  and  was  never  admonished  for  mis- 
behavior except  when  he  was  caught  keeping  a  rigorous 
Lent  when  he  was  only  sixteen.  But  long  before  that  he 
had  been  fasting  every  Saturday,  in  honor  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  Of  course  there  was  no  difficulty  in  accepting  such 
a  lad  when  he  wanted  to  become  a  Jesuit,  and  on  Sep- 
tember 27,  1628  he  entered  the  Novitiate  at  Bordeaux, 
which  then  belonged  to  the  Province  of  Aquitaine.  Now 
at  that  very  time  Quebec  was  being  beseiged  and  the  specu- 
lation naturally  suggests  itself :  what  would  have  been  Gar- 
reau's  subsequent  career,  if  the  English  flag  had  continued 
to  fly  above  the  citadel  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  remained 
about  eleven  years  in  France,  and  was  conspicuous  both 
for  his  intellectual  abilities  and  the  holiness  of  his  life, 
and  for  both  reasons  was  sent  to  Rome  to  study  theology. 
While  there,  the  Father  General,  Mutius  Vitelleschi,  gave 
him  permission  to  go  to  America  for  the  Indian  missions. 

He  left  La  Rochelle  on  May  18,  1643,  and  on  that  day 
he  wrote  to  his  beloved  brother,  the  Recollect  friar,  to  whom 
he  was  tenderly  attached.  The  letter  is  valuable  as  a  his- 
torical document,  and  furnishes  us,  at  the  same  time,  with 
an  excellent  picture  of  the  young  missionary's  soul.  It  is  as 
follows : 

"  He  who  writes  to  you  is  your  brother  whom  you  have 
not  forgotten,  and  who  will  never  forget  you.  He  loves 
you  and  will  always  love  you  as  himself,  and  will  never 
cease  to  pray  daily  for  you  with  all  the  fervor  he  possesses. 

"  You  already  know,  I  think,  that  when  I  was  at  Rome 
studying  theology  I  obtained  permission  from  Father  Gen- 
eral, after  many  efforts  on  my  part,  to  go  to  New  France, 
to  devote  the  rest  of  my  life  in  converting  the  poor  savages, 
who  have  been  so  long  under  the  thraldom  of  the  evil  one. 

380 


LEONARD    GARREAU. 

As  such  a  vocation  is  somewhat  out  of  the  ordinary,  and 
entails  great  labor  and  suffering,  I  studied  it  according  to 
all  the  rules  of  prudence  left  us  by  the  saints.  Being  finally 
persuaded  that  it  came  from  God,  and  that  it  was  an  ex- 
traordinary privilege  to  be  called  to  such  a  mission,  I  took 
the  resolution  to  employ  whatever  means  were  in  my  power 
to  obtain  it.  God  has  blessed  me  with  success,  and  I  am 
now  about  to  realize  my  ambition.  In  four  hours  I  shall 
leave  France. 

"  I  must  bid  you  a  long  farewell,  my  dear  brother  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  it  is  not  without  the  deepest  emotion 
that  I  find  myself  leaving  one  whom  I  love  so  much. 
We  have  not  been  able  to  see  each  other  for  a  moment  and 
embrace  each  other  in  the  Lord,  but  let  us  be  submissive 
to  the  will  of  God,  and  console  ourselves  with  the  thought 
of  meeting  in  heaven,  where  there  shall  be  no  parting. 

"  I  beg  and  implore  you,  O,  my  brother,  if  you  still  keep 
some  remembrance  and  love  for  him  who  loves  you  more 
than  anyone  else,  to  ask  God  to  give  me  the  necessary 
virtue  for  the  new  work  which  I  now  undertake. 

"  I  set  out  full  of  joy,  and  so  happy  that  I  would  not 
change  my  lot  for  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  The 
only  thing  that  would  complete  my  happiness  is  a  little 
half-hour's  talk  with  you,  to  receive  your  counsel  on  the 
kind  of  life  that  I  am  embracing.  But  let  us  learn  to  suffer 
the  privation  willingly.  We  must  begin  to  renounce  all 
human  and  even  heavenly  consolation  if  such  is  the  good 
pleasure  of  God. 

"  I  did  not  call  on  my  brother  when  I  went  from  Paris- 
to  La  Rochelle.  I  knew  it  would  have  been  of  no  use,  and 
I  thought  it  was  proper  to  offer  that  sacrifice  to  God,  al- 
though it  was,  naturally,  so  painful ;  so  I  deprived  myself 
of  the  greatest  consolation  I  could  have  here  below,  in  order 
to  obtain  by  this  renunciation  of  self,  the  grace  of  becoming 
a  worthy  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God. 

"  Farewell    then,    my   brother,    farewell   once   again.     I 

381 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

embrace  you  with  all  my  heart  and  love.  Have  pity  on 
your  brother,  not  because  he  is  going  to  expose  himself 
to  tempests  and  shipwreck,  to  pirates  and  to  savages,  who 
are  the  cruelest  of  men — that  is  only  a  reason  for  joy;  but 
because  he  is  not  yet  what  God  would  wish  him  to  be,  and 
is  very  far  removed  from  the  virtue  which  a  worker  in  such 
a  field  ought  to  have."  It  would  be  hard  to  beat  that  for 
a  love  letter. 

On  the  vessel  with  him  were  Fathers  Chabanel,  Druil- 
lettes,  de  Lyonne  and  Claude  Ouentin.  They  reached 
Quebec  on  August  19,  1643,  He  immediately  wrote  to 
his  brother,  and  to  interest  him  the  more,  he  made  use  of  a 
piece  of  birch  bark  instead  of  paper,  for  the  missive.  It 
reads  as  follows : 

"  We  suffered  on  the  voyage  what  people  usually  do ; 
storms,  danger  of  going  to  the  bottom,  want  of  fresh 
w^ater,  seasickness,  which  is  a  grievous  trial,  and  the  ex- 
tremes of  heat  and  cold.  But  all  that  trouble  is  now  over, 
and  it  only  made  our  arrival  at  Quebec  the  happier.  As 
regards  myself,  I  have  never  felt  greater  joy  of  heart.  I 
would  not  exchange  our  bark  hut  for  a  king's  palace,  nor 
our  poverty  for  all  the  riches  and  magnificence  that  I  have 
seen  in  Rome  or  Paris;  and  this  thought  fills  me  with  the 
greatest  consolation.  I  can  imitate  Jesus  Christ,  my  good 
Master,  and  obtain  from  Him  the  gift  of  fidelity  in  whatever 
is  painful  and  hard.  His  journey  to  earth  when  he  came 
from  heaven  for  our  salvation  w^as  longer  than  ours  from 
the  Old  World  to  the  New.  The  conversion  of  a  single  soul 
is,  on  that  account,  worth  daring,  if  necessary,  a  thousand 
deaths,  since  for  that  reason  the  Son  of  God  did  not  spare  his 
blood  or  his  life. 

"  I  thank  God  that  I  fear  neither  fire  nor  sword.  The 
most  ardent  desire  of  my  heart  is  to  sacrifice  myself  entirely 
for  God,  who  is  so  good  that  he  has  sacrificed  himself 
for  me.  I  do  not  deserve  such  a  favor,  and  I  have  reason 
to  fear  that  my  sins  may  prevent  me   from  gaining  the 

382 


LEONARD   GARREAU. 

crown  of  martyrdom,  and  that  is  what  has  brought  me 
here. 

"  Believe  me,  my  brother,  everything  here  below  is 
vanity  and  delusion,  except  the  desire  to  work  and  suffer 
for  God.  When  you  think  that  such  is  the  harvest  I  am 
reaping  here  do  not  worry,  but  rather  rejoice  with  me  that 
I  am  where  God  wishes,  where  I  have  desired  so  ardently 
to  be,  and  where  I  am  resolved  to  live  and  die  for  Him. 
Do  not,  however,  imagine  that  we  are  without  consolation. 
The  success  of  our  labors  in  propagating  the  Faith  has  been 
very  great." 

The  thirteen  years  he  spent  in  Canada  were  a  complete 
realization  of  these  lofty  ideals.  He  was  forever  elimin- 
ating from  his  life  whatever  could  flatter  the  senses ;  he 
w^as  always  thirsting  for  suffering,  and  was  always  on  fire 
with  the  love  of  God  and  his  neighbor.  When  he  first  ar- 
rived at  Quebec  he  was  assigned  to  the  Algonquins,  and 
consequently  when  de  Brebeuf  was  returning  to  the  mis- 
sions and  needed  some  one  to  look  after  the  roaming 
savages  who  were  staying  around  Huronia,  Garreau  was 
chosen  for  the  work,  and  he  started  up  the  river  on  Septem- 
ber 7,  1644.  On  reaching  Huronia,  he  was  immediately  des- 
patched with  Father  Claude  Pijart  to  Lake  Nippissing, 
where  his  flock  could  be  found.  They  set  out  at  the  end  of 
November  in  a  canoe,  taking  the  west  shore  of  Georgian 
Bay,  and  going  north  to  the  mouth  of  the  French  River. 
Ascending  that  stream  they  finally  arrived  at  the  lake. 

On  December  4  they  were  still  out  in  Georgian  Bay,  about 
nine  miles  from  the  shore  when  the  cold  became  intense, 
and  with  such  suddenness  that  they  found  themselves  caught 
in  the  ice,  and  without  any  possibility  of  running  their 
boat  to  the  shore.  Their  only  hope  was  to  get  on  the  ice, 
w^hich  was  not  yet  thick  enough  to  bear  them ;  they  hesi- 
tated, but  as  it  was  a  choice  of  freezing  to  death  in  the 
motionless  canoe  or  taking  the  risk,  they  concluded 
to  make  the  attempt..     They  succeeded  at  first,  and  crept 

383 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

along  cautiously,  strung  out  a  long  distance  from  each 
other.  A  Frenchman  and  an  Indian  took  the  lead  to  test 
the  ice,  while  the  missionaries,  not  used  to  that  kind  of 
travelling,  followed  slowly  and  with  great  effort.  They 
were  soon  very  far  behind ;  when  suddenly  the  whole  surface 
gave  way  under  the  feet  of  Father  Pijart,  and  he  dis- 
appeared in  the  lake.  Garreau  uttered  a  loud  cry  of  alarm, 
and,  quite  oblivious  of  himself,  hastened  to  the  rescue.  But 
he  went  in  also,  and  both  were  soon  grasping  at  the  floating 
cakes  around  them.  Their  shouts  brought  their  com- 
panions to  the  rescue,  but  there  was  no  means  of  getting 
near  the  edge  of  the  hole.  Ropes  were  flung  to  the  drown- 
ing men,  but  each  effort  to  get  out  only  widened  the  break, 
and  meantime  they  were  freezing  to  death  in  the  icy  water. 

Humanly  speaking  all  hope  was  lost,  but  they  put  their 
life  in  God's  hands,  praying  with  fervor  to  the  saint  whose 
feast  was  celebrated  that  day.  They  did  not  lose  their 
heads  for  a  moment,  and  finally,  after  desperate  struggles 
they  reached  a  piece  of  ice  strong  enough  to  support  them, 
and  by  help  of  the  ropes  were  hauled  out  of  the  water. 
The  cold  pierced  the  marrow  of  their  bones,  and  their 
clothes  became  a  solid  block.  They  made  all  haste  for  the 
shore,  lighted  a  fire  and  put  together  some  bits  of  bark  for  a 
shelter  against  the  driving  wind.  They  recovered  suf- 
ficiently, and  then  resumed  their  journey  to  the  mission 
which,  unfortunately,  was  not  in  any  fixed  place,  but  where- 
ever  the  roving  Indians  chose  to  go ;  the  presence  of  game 
usually  deciding  their  camp.  This  rude  work  of  following 
the  tribe  was  continued  all  the  winter  and  following  sum- 
mer; a  terrible  trial  for  two  raw  Europeans  who,  besides 
the  hardships  of  the  journey  had  nothing  to  eat;  for  the 
Algonquins  devoured  all  the  game  they  shot,  and  then 
starved  till  the  next  stroke  of  luck.  But  we  are  told  that 
the  missionaries  found  it  easy  because  of  the  docility  and 
fervor  of  their  neophytes. 

Towards  autumn  they  started  for  St.  Mary's,  but  on  the 

384 


LEONARD    GARREAU. 

road  Garreau  fell  ill.  Disentery  and  fever  made  a  wreck 
of  him,  and  in  that  condition  he  had  to  face  the  wind  and 
the  heat  and  the  rain,  and  sometimes  in  the  hard  parts 
of  the  journey,  had  to  work  like  a  slave  at  the  paddle.  Of 
course  he  grew  worse.  They  stopped  for  a  while  to  let 
him  recuperate,  but  the  symptoms  became  so  alarming  that 
they  had  to  carry  him  on  their  shoulders,  over  the  long  and 
difficult  portages,  exhausting  themselves  as  well  as  the 
sufferer.  They  endeavored  to  buoy  him  up  with  words 
of  encouragement,  the  only  thing  they  had  to  offer,  and 
on  the  other  hand  his  courage  and  resignation  gave  them 
strength.  Finally,  after  a  journey  of  thirteen  long  and 
sorrowful  days,  they  arrived  at  St.  Mary's.  They  were 
just  in  time.  The  sick  man  could  stand  it  no  longer,  and 
for  twenty-four  hours  he  was  at  the  point  of  death.  Every 
moment  they  expected  him  to  breathe  his  last.  Indeed,  he 
was  so  far  gone  that  his  coffin  was  actually  made;  but 
they  kept  on  praying  for  him,  and  everyone  made  a  vow 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  for  his  recovery.  Their  prayer  was 
heard.  His  strength  returned,  and  he  was  soon  on  his  feet 
again  ready  for  work. 

His  friend.  Father  Garnier,  who  was  present,  wrote  with 
enthusiasm  about  his  manner  of  supporting  his  sufferings, 
"  I  was  often  carried  away  with  admiration  this  winter," 
he  says,  "  by  one  of  Ours,  who  was  so  close  to  death  that 
we  were  preparing  his  grave.  He  was  sick  for  thirty-eight 
days,  and  what  delighted  us  was  the  abundance  of  grace 
that  God  gave  him.  Indeed,  it  seemed  too  much  for  the 
extreme  feebleness  of  his  body.  There  was  such  an  in- 
tensity and  uninterruptedness  in  the  heroic  acts  of  humility 
which  he  made;  there  was  such  a  boundless  love  of  God 
which  prompted  him  to  offer  himself  to  suffer  all  the  pains 
of  hell  if  necessary,  and  there  were  so  many  ardent  aspira- 
tions for  heaven  that  we  could  not  understand  how  he  did 
not  succumb.  He  would  pass  three  and  four  hours  without 
intermission  in  those  acts  of  piety. 

385 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

As  soon  as  he  was  up,  Father  Garreau  went  to  work  with 
greater  enthusiasm  than  ever.  The  goodness  of  God  had 
given  him  back  his  health,  and  he  determined  to  use  every 
bit  of  it.  Father  Ragueneau,  who  afterwards  became  his 
superior,  wrote  of  him  that  "  he  died  daily,"  and  in  an 
official  letter  to  the  General,  in  1645,  Pijart,  who  knew  him 
thoroughly,  described  him  as  "  a  most  intrepid  mission- 
ary, just  such  as  we  need  most  here."  When  Father 
Garnier  was  sent  in  1646  to  found  a  permanent  mission 
among  the  Petuns  he  took  Garreau  with  him  as  a  com- 
panion, chiefly  to  look  after  the  Algonquin  contingent 
that  had  settled  there.  He  was  very  busy  with  them  all 
winter,  but  an  unfortunate  occurrence  disturbed  the  good 
feelings  that  existed  between  the  Petuns  and  their  Algon- 
quin neighbors.  An  Algonquin  was  killed,  and  the  Petuns 
refused  to  make  the  usual  reparation.  This  failure  of  jus- 
tice caused  a  rupture,  and  the  Algonquins  decamped  and 
settled  elsewhere. 

As  Garreau  thus  lost  his  flock,  he  set  himself  to  study 
Huron,  so  as  to  be  better  able  to  help  Father  Garnier,  whose 
work  had  grown  excessively  heavy. 

A  holy  emulation  sprung  up  between  these  two  saints, 
in  the  care  of  their  respective  flocks.  They  alternately  ex- 
changed missions.  Thus  after  fifteen  or  twenty  days  of 
work  apart  from  each  other,  they  met  and  passed  two  or 
three  days  together  and  then  separated  for  another  space, 
each  taking  the  other's  place,  and  so  on  through  the  year. 
"  We  are  alone,"  says  Garnier,  "  for  three  weeks  at  a  time, 
except  for  our  good  angels  and  our  Indians,  but  we  must 
admit  that  the  time  of  solitude  is  richest  in  graces  and  con- 
solations." 

In  1649,  Father  Greslon  was  sent  to  help  Father  Gar- 
nier, and  Chabanel  was  named  as  Garreau's  assistant.  It 
was  the  year  of  the  great  catastrophies.  De  Brebeuf  and 
Lalemant  had  been  murdered  and  the  whole  country  was 
in  consternation;  for  the  destruction  of  the  entire  Huron 

386 


LEONARD  GARREAU. 

nation,  which  the  Iroquois  had  determined  to  bring  about 
now  seemed  inevitable,  especially  as  the  year  closed  with 
the  deaths  of  Garnier  and  Chabanel.  Garreau  and  Greslon 
were  thus  the  only  priests  left  on  the  old  missions.  The 
other  remnants  of  the  wreck  had  been  gathered  on  St. 
Joseph's  Island. 

Then  Father  Greslon  fell  sick  and  had  to  be  sent  away, 
and  thus  Garreau  was  all  alone  in  the  wilderness.  How 
long  he  remained  in  that  dreadful  and  dangerous  isolation 
we  do  not  know  exactly.  But  soon  his  Indians  left  him. 
Like  the  rest  of  the  tribe,  they  began  to  make  their  way 
to  the  Island,  and  he  was  compelled  to  follow  them.  There 
he  remained  until  the  general  flight  to  Quebec.  The  story 
of  that  perilous  journey  has  been  often  told  and  we  omit 
it  here,  except  to  note  that  once  again  Garreau  had  to  look 
into  the  eyes  of  death  before  he  reached  civilization.  He 
was  caught  in  the  rapids  and  upset.  Fortunately  he  was 
able  to  cling  to  his  canoe,  while  he  was  being  battered  against 
the  rocks  by  the  roaring  torrent.  How  he  was  saved  he 
does  not  tell  us,  except  that  his  Angel  Guardian  got  him 
out  of  trouble.  It  would  be  pleasant  for  inquisitive  mor- 
tals to  know  who  was  his  Angel  Guardian's  representative. 
Possibly  that  was  not  the  only  adventure  in  the  nine  hundred 
miles  of  a  journey,  which  he  told  his  brother  could  be 
scarcely  more  perilous. 

Every  one  was  gloomy  at  Quebec  after  the  arrival  of 
the  Hurons.  For  the  priests,  there  were  no  longer  any 
missions,  and  for  the  traders  there  were  no  more  furs. 
At  last,  in  1654,  to  the  delight  of  everyone,  there  sailed 
down  the  St.  Lawrence  a  great  flotilla  of  canoes  loaded  with 
rich  peltries.  A  new  set  of  Indians  presented  themselves. 
They  were  the  Ottawas,  or  Chcveux  Relcves.  Immediately 
the  traders  took  heart,  and  two  young  Frenchmen  volun- 
teered to  go  back  with  the  newcomers  to  visit  their  country. 
It  is  not  said  in  the  "  Relations  "  who  these  "  two  young 
men  "  were,  but  it  is  very  likely  they  were  no  other  than 

387 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Radisson  and  Chouart,  the  latter  known  later  as  Grosel- 
liers,  both  of  whom  figure  very  largely  in  Canadian  history 
and  who  ultimately,  to  the  chagrin  of  their  compatriots, 
established  the  English  Hudson  Bay  Company.  They 
were  accepted  by  the  Ottawas,  and  started  up  the  river  with 
the  intention  of  remaining  a  year.  They  did  not  return 
for  two  years,  and  when  all  hope  of  ever  seeing  them  was 
given  up,  fifty  canoes  with  180  Ottawas  paddled  down  to 
Three  Rivers  with  a  load  of  furs  that  set  the  whole  colony 
dancing  with  delight.  Every  young  man  wanted  to  go 
back  with  them,  and  yielding  to  the  popular  demand  the 
Governor  commissioned  thirty  Frenchmen  to  begin  a  set- 
tlement in  the  Ottawa  country.  But  it  was  not  only  trade 
that  received  a  new  impulse.  While  Radisson  and  Chouart 
were  trafficking  for  furs,  they  had  not  been  oblivious  of 
the  interests  of  religion.  They  had  spoken  a  great  deal  to 
the  Ottawas  about  Christianity,  had  even  baptized  all  the 
dying  babies  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  and  had  got  a 
promise  from  the  chiefs  to  ask  for  missionaries  when  they 
went  down  to  Quebec.  The  Indians  kept  their  promise, 
and  offered  the  Governor  to  take  back  with  them  tw^o  priests 
to  instruct  the  tribe.  Father  Garreau,  who  had  spent  some 
time  on  the  Isle  d'Orleans  with  Chaumonot  and  the  Hurons, 
and  was  then  at  Three  Rivers,  was  expressly  asked  for. 

It  was  a  joyous  day  for  Quebec  when  amid  the  booming 
of  cannon  and  the  cheers  of  the  colonists,  the  thirty  French- 
men got  into  the  canoes  with  the  one  hundred  and  eighty 
Indians  and  started  up  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  the  party  were 
Fathers  Garreau  and  Druillettes,  and  also  Brother  le  Boeme, 
wnth  three  domestics  who  had  volunteered  to  go  with  the 
missionaries. 

They  were  in  high  spirits  until  they  met  a  French  soldier 
on  the  river,  who  had  been  sent  down  to  warn  them  that 
the  Iroquois  were  on  the  war  path,  and  were  in  ambush 
higher  up  the  stream.  The  intelligence  gave  a  chill  to  the 
enthusiastic  company  but  it  soon  passed,  and  trusting  in 

388 


LEONARD  GARREAU. 

their  numbers  they  were  almost  eager  to  meet  the  foe. 
Whether  or  not  they  were  seen  by  the  Iroquois  or  whether 
the  wily  foe  let  them  pass  in  hopes  of  a  better  opportunity 
further  up,  can  not  be  determined.  At  all  events  the  trav- 
ellers reached  Three  Rivers  in  safety,  and  were  quite  elated 
over  their  success.  But  the  feeling  that  prevailed  in  the 
settlement  soon  cooled  their  ardor,  and  they  suddenly  dis- 
covered that  their  canoes  were  in  bad  condition,  and  that 
their  provisions  were  insufficient  for  the  long  journey  of 
one  thousand  two  hundred  miles  that  lay  before  them. 
They  ended  by  very  disgracefully  backing  down  from  their 
lofty  purpose,  and  concluded  to  return  to  Quebec. 

Of  course  the  Ottawas  had  to  continue  on  their  journey, 
and  as  the  priests  and  brother  were  actuated  by  a  loftier 
purpose  than  that  of  money-making,  and  had  never  any 
intention  of  withdrawing,  they  started  on  the  way  up 
the  river  with  the  Indians.  Their  three  domestics  also 
went  with  them.  The  Ottawas  were  in  great  spirits,  and 
were  quite  heedless  of  the  warnings  they  had  received. 
They  not  only  took  no  precautions  against  a  surprise,  but 
the  foolish  young  braves  who  were  as  delighted  with  the 
firearms  which  they  had  purchased  as  a  child  is  with  a 
new  toy,  were  continually  shooting  off  their  pieces  to  hear 
the  report,  or  to  bring  down  any  game  they  met  on  the 
way.  They  were  unaware  that  the  Iroquois  had  been 
tracking  them  all  the  way  up  the  river. 

When  they  approached  Montreal  they  entered  the  Riviere 
des  Prairies,  or  Back  River  as  it  is  now  called,  which  runs 
on  the  north  side  of  the  island.  Precisely  how  far  they 
had  travelled  we  do  not  know,  though  probably  they  had 
already  covered  a  considerable  distance.  Six  of  the  canoes 
were  somewhat  in  advance,  and  in  one  of  them  was  Father 
Garreau,  intent  on  instructing  his  Indians.  They  had 
passed  a  rapid,  and  to  avoid  the  current  had  to  go  very  close 
to  the  shore  near  where  a  point  of  land  projected  into  the 
river.       Suddenly   a   report   of   firearms   was   heard,   and 

389 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

several  of  the  occupants  of  the  canoes  tumbled  over  dead 
or  wounded.  Among  them  was  Father  Garreau,  who  was 
hit  on  the  right  side  by  a  bullet  which  shattered  his  spine. 
They  were  at  that  time  so  close  to  the  bank  that  the 
Iroquois  pounced  upon  them  and  dragged  them  out  of 
their  boats.  Those  who  were  not  wounded  were  made 
prisoners,  and  flung  inside  of  the  entrenchments  which  the 
Iroquois  had,  in  expectation  of  a  fight,  thrown  up  near  by. 
Seeing  what  had  happened,  the  main  body  of  the  Ottawas 
hurried  forward,  determined  to  make  short  work  of  the 
enemy.  But  their  ardor  was  checked  when  they  en- 
countered the  defences  from  which  it  was  impossible  to 
dislodge  the  foe.  Chagrined  and  baffled,  they  withdrew  a 
short  distance  and  began  to  build  a  fort  of  their  own. 
Then  they  changed  their  tactics,  and  asked  for  a  parley. 
They  protested  that  they  had  no  quarrel  with  the  Iroquois, 
and  merely  wanted  leave  to  continue  on  their  journey, 
but  their  proposals  were  treated  with  contempt. 

That  night  there  was  a  tumult  in  the  Ottawa  camp. 
Shouts  of  command  and  the  noise  of  falling  trees  gave 
notice  to  the  enemy  that  a  fight  was  going  to  be  made  on 
the  morrow,  but  when  morning  dawned  the  Ottawas  had 
disappeared.  The  noise  was  only  a  trick  to  deceive  the 
enemy.  It  was  the  usual  Indian  strategy,  and  it  is  curious 
that  it  so  often  succeeded.  Father  Druillettes  and  the 
lay  brother,  Boeme,  who  had  not  been  hurt  in  the 
fight  Vi^anted  to  continue  on  the  journey,  but  their  request 
was  refused,  and  they  were  left  to  shift  for  themselves  in 
the  woods.  Ferland  says  they  were  taken  prisoners  by 
the  Iroquois  and  led  to  Montreal,  but  he  gives  no  authority 
for  his  assertion.  There  is  nothing  about  it  in  the  "  Re- 
lation." 

What  had  become  of  Garreau  meantime?  He  was  bleed- 
ing to  death  inside  the  stockade.  He  had  been  stripped  of 
his  clothes  down  to  the  miserable  drawers  that  he  wore, 
and  left  to  die  on  the  ground.     No  one  paid  any  attention 

390 


LEONARD   GARREAU. 

to  him  except  one  Indian,  who  offered  him  some  medicine 
which  he  was  unable  to  take.  It  was  then  4  o'clock  on 
Wednesday,  August  30,  1656.  From  time  to  time  the 
savages  would  come  to  poke  at  the  hole  with  iron  prongs  to 
try  to  extract  the  bullet,  and  he  bore  the  agony  of  that  hor- 
rible probing  without  a  murmur.  Thursday  passed  and 
Friday,  and  still  he  lay  on  the  bare  earth  bathed  in  his  blood. 
No  one  had  given  him  even  a  drink  of  water,  though  they 
were  on  the  river  bank.  Even  then  he  was  thinking  of  the 
souls  around  him,  for  while  his  eyes  were  closing  in  death  he 
discovered  among  the  captives  a  number  of  Huron  Chris- 
tians, and  calling  them  over  he  made  them  go  to  confession, 
gasping  out  the  words  of  absolution  and  exhorting  them 
as  best  he  could  to  be  faithful  during  the  terrible  tortures 
and  death  to  which  they  were  doomed.  But  God  gave  him 
a  much  greater  consolation.  Among  the  Iroquois  was  an 
apostate  Frenchman,  who  in  a  wild  rage  about  some  wrong 
which  he  had  received  in  Quebec,  had  become  an  Indian. 
Father  Garreau  calmed  the  fury  of  the  poor  wretch,  and 
after  a  while  reconciled  him  to  God.  It  was  providential, 
for  a  day  or  so  after,  when  the  party  went  over  to  Mon^ 
treal,  the  Iroquois  betrayed  the  renegade  to  the  colonists; 
and  he  was  taken  down  to  Quebec  and  hanged.  But  he 
persevered  in  the  good  sentiments  which  Father  Garreau 
had  poured  into  his  soul,  and  died  in  great  contrition  for 
his  sins.  Such  was  the  last  act  of  the  ministry  of  Father 
Garreau.  If  we  are  to  trust  Belmont,  in  his  "  Histoire  du 
Canada,"  it  was  this  Frenchman  who  fired  the  fatal  shot ; 
but  perhaps  that  story  was  told  by  the  Iroquois  to  shift  the 
blame  from  themselves. 

Saturday  morning  came,  and  Father  Garreau  was  stilj 
breathing.  It  was  a  serious  situation  for  the  Iroquois. 
They  were  at  peace  with  the  French,  and  yet  here  was  one 
who  was  not  only  a  Frenchman  but  a  priest  whom  they  had 
murdered.  It  meant  war  unless  it  was  explained.  So  they 
took  up  the  dying  man  and  hurried  to  Montreal,  arriving 

391 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

there  in  the  afternoon.  FHnging  down  the  usual  presents 
to  wipe  away  the  tears  of  his  friends,  they  declared  that  the 
shooting  was  an  accident,  and  then  made  off  with  them- 
selves.    Nothing  could  be  done  to  punish  them. 

The  great  missionary  was  true  to  his  high  ideals  to  the 
very  end.  Without  a  murmur  of  resentment  against  the 
wretches  who  had  so  cruelly  treated  him  during  the  three 
days  of  agony  he,  on  the  contrary,  offered  up  the  most  fer- 
vent prayers  to  God  in  their  behalf.  He  breathed  his  last, 
at  ten  o'clock  that  night,  and  went  to  heaven. 

Shortly  after  the  tragedy  Father  Ragueneau,  who  had 
been  Father  Garreau's  Superior  in  the  Huron  country  and 
subsequently  at  Three  Rivers,  and  who  loved  him  tenderly, 
wrote  to  the  dead  hero's  brother.  As  the  letter  gives 
us  an  appreciation  of  the  splendid  character  of  the  dead 
man,  besides  adding  some  details  of  his  life  which  have 
been  purposely  omitted  in  the  general  sketch,  it  is  thought 
proper  to  reproduce  it  here,  even  if  one  or  two  of  the 
events  already  told  are  repeated.  We  find  it  in  the  MSS. 
of  Father  Felix  Martin,  who  copied  it  from  the  "  Histoire 
des  Saints  de  Limoges."  Incidentally  it  affords  us  some 
knowledge  of  Ragueneau's  own  charming  character. 
"  Sir. 

"  Pax  Christi : 

"  The  writer,  who  is  unknown  to  you,  considers  that  he 
is  under  the  obligation  of  communicating  a  happy  piece 
of  news  about  one  who  was  very  dear  to  you  in  life,  and 
who  must  be  a  thousand  times  more  so  now  that  he  is  dead. 

"  You  have  a  brother  in  heaven,  a  martyr  of  charity, 
killed  by  the  savage  Iroquois  when  he  was  beginning  a 
journey  of  four  hundred  leagues,  to  labor  at  the  conversion 
of  a  number  of  Indians,  who  having  formerly  known  him, 
came  down  the  river  to  the  number  of  two  hundred  to  ask 
for  him  as  their  teacher,  promising  at  the  same  time  that 
they  would  become  Christians.  He  of  whom  I  write  is 
Father  Garreau,  whose  virtue  I  have  admired  during  the 

392 


WHERE    GARREAU    WAS    BURIED. 

(The  Maisonneuve   Monument,   Montreal.) 


LEONARD   GARREAU. 

twelve  or  thirteen  years  in  which  I  had  the  privilege  of 
knowing  him  in  this  country,  and  who  deserves  to  be 
honored  for  the  death  that  has  crowned  his  holy  life. 

"God  is  great  in  his  saints;  and  his  ways  of  leading 
them  are  as  adorable  as  they  are  mysterious.  This  blessed 
Father  was  endowed  with  an  active  and  solid  intelligence, 
and  was  accomplished  in  every  way  that  one  could  desire. 
Grace  was  added  in  abundance  to  his  splendid  natural 
qualities,  to  make  of  him  an  evangelical  laborer  who,  in 
whatever  place  he  was  assigned  to,  reaped  a  rich  harvest 
of  souls.  Indeed  it  was  to  be  expected  from  one  whose 
zeal  was  so  apostolic,  and  whom  angels  and  men  regarded 
with  such  approval.  His  profound  humility;  his  patience 
in  trials,  his  charity  which  was  unalterably  sweet,  his  obedi- 
ence that  dared  everything,  made  him  conspicuous  among 
us.  In  brief,  he  possessed  in  an  exalted  degree  every 
virtue  that  makes  souls  agreeable  to  God.  I  can  say  with- 
out any  qualification  whatever  that  he  was  dead  to  the 
world  and  lived  in  God. 

"  About  ten  years  ago,  after  inconceivable  hardship  in 
the  mission  which  lasted  an  entire  summer,  in  which  he  had 
absolutely  nothing  to  alleviate  his  sufferings,  was  without 
rest,  and  even  without  such  necessities  of  life  as  the  vilest 
slaves  and  the  most  wretched  of  men  have  in  abundance,  he 
returned  to  our  mission  amon  the  Hurons.  He  was  deathly 
sick.  Indeed  we  had  already  made  his  coffin,  and  prepared 
everything  for  his  burial,  under  the  impression  that  he  had 
not  an  hour  to  live.  It  was  marvellous  what  the  love  of  God 
did  in  that  emaciated  body,  whose  strength  was  completely 
gone.  Helping  him  at  that  late  hour,  I  discovered  a  saint 
who,  in  the  act  of  dying,  was  already  living  in  God  Every 
throb  of  his  heart  was  a  transport  of  love.  Every  breath  was 
an  act  of  love  of  God,  uttered  in  such  a  loud  but  such  a  sweet 
voice,  while  he  expressed  the  feelings  with  which  his  heart 
was  beating,  that  I  think  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
have  suggested  more  tender  and  loving  and  holy  prayers 

893 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

than  those  which  his  Hps  formed  at  that  time.  It  was  a 
divine  eloquence,  a  holy  abandonment  of  himself  to  the 
will  of  God,  for  time  and  eternity. 

"  Out  of  the  abundance  of  his  heart,  his  mouth  spoke 
to  God  and  of  God.  His  trust  in  the  Almighty  was  so 
sweet,  his  feelings  of  happiness  so  exalted,  his  detachment 
from  self  and  his  attachment  to  God  so  far  removed  from 
nature  that  we  saw  that  grace  alone  abided  in  him,  ani- 
mating his  desires,  his  hope  and  his  love.  This  lasted 
for  a  whole  hour,  while  his  body  was  in  the  throes  of  death. 
But  love  was  stronger  than  death,  and  God  gave  him  back 
to  us  though  we  abandoned  all  hope.  He  recovered,  and 
his  noble  heart  continued  faithful  to  the  great  love  that 
was  consuming  it. 

"  In  the  missions  which  I  have  referred  to,  I  can  safely 
say  that  he  sacrificed  his  whole  life  for  God;  that  he  suf- 
fered everything  for  God,  and  that  for  him  God  was  all, 
and  everything  else  was  nothing.  He  lived  in  the  places 
which  were  most  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  every  day  he  was  in  danger  of  suffering  a  thousand 
deaths  before  the  final  blow  came.  It  would  be  impossible 
for  cruelty  to  invent  more  horrible  pain  than  these  enemies 
of  God  and  man  inflict  on  those  who  fall  into  their  hands. 
Some  of  our  Fathers  have  already  been  put  to  death  by 
them,  but  Father  Garreau,  instead  of  fearing  a  similar  fate, 
was  longing  for  it.  That  desire  animated  his  zeal  and  set 
his  heart  on  fire.  One  of  our  Fathers,  his  intimate  friend 
and  the  companion  of  his  labors,  Charles  Garnier,  was  slain 
by  those  wretches  on  December  7,  1649,  and  after  that 
Father  Leonard  was  left  in  those  parts  alone,  exposed  to 
all  the  evils  that  nature  shrinks  from.  He  could  then  say 
with  St.  Paul :  *  I  die  every  day,'  He  had  nothing  to  eat 
the  greatest  part  of  the  time  except  acorns,  roots  and  wild 
berries.  The  earth  was  his  bed  and  God  his  consolation. 
I  called  him  back  from  that  mission  in  the  spring  of  the 
following  year,  and  on  his  way  while  crossing  an  expanse 

394 


LEONARD  GARREAU. 

of  about  ten  leagues  on  the  lake  that  was  between  him  and 
us,  he  lost  his  way  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  fog  that  settled 
around  him.  Night  came  on  with  a  furious  storm,  and 
wearied  out  with  paddling  all  day  long,  his  companions 
gave  up  all  hope  and  let  themselves  be  carried  wherever 
the  winds  and  waves  might  toss  them.  It  would  seem  that 
God  had  designedly  made  Father  Garreau  die  every  day, 
so  that  by  looking  death  in  the  face  his  love  might  grow 
in  intensity;  for  during  that  time  when  everyone  expected 
to  go  to  the  bottom  of  the  lake  at  any  moment,  nothing 
but  loving  words  left  his  lips,  as  he  exhorted  his  companions 
to  accept  death  from  the  hands  of  God.  During  the  two  or 
three  hours  that  they  were  there,  he  had  them  all  reciting 
acts  of  the  love  of  God  and  abandonment  to  Divine  Prov- 
idence. The  party  was  half  French  and  half  Huron,  and 
they  told  us  afterwards  that  they  were  never  happier  than 
when  all  hope  was  gone ;  they  never  felt  so  well  disposed, 
and  were  even  desirous  of  death,  for  they  were  sure  they 
would  never  be  so  well  prepared.  The  fire  of  divine  love  in 
Father  Garreau's  heart  had  enkindled  theirs,  and  made 
them  feel  the  happiness  it  brings.  After  all  hope  of  saving 
their  lives  had  been  abandoned,  God  stilled  the  tempest  and 
scattered  the  clouds,  and  they  found  themselves  suddenly 
near  the  shore  tranquil,  happy,  and  rejoicing. 

''  Less  than  a  year  ago,  in  order  to  prepare  him  for  death, 
God  sent  him  another  sickness  which  was  contracted  in 
consequence  of  a  labor  of  charity.  While  it  lasted,  all 
the  virtues  that  one  could  expect  in  a  holy  man  in  the  last 
struggle  were  evidenced  in  his  heroic  patience,  his  absolute 
submission  to  the  will  of  God,  his  complete  effacement  of 
self,  and  his  love  that  hoped  for  everything  from  God. 
The  death  of  the  saints  is  precious  in  the  eyes  of  God,  but 
God,  who  loved  him  so  much,  reserved  him  for  another  death 
instead  of  the  one  to  which  that  sickness  had  nearly  brought 
him. 

'*  About  two  hundred  and  fifty  Indians  had  come  from 

395 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

their  country  in  the  month  of  August,  1656,  a  distance  of 
four  hundred  leagues.  They  were  partly  Huron  and 
partly  Algonquin.  They  came  to  trade,  but  also  to  ask 
for  missionaries,  and  first  of  all  they  asked  expressly  for 
Father  Garreau,  who  spoke  the  two  languages,  and  also 
for  the  reason  that  he  had  been  the  first  to  preach  the  gospel 
among  them.  Having  obtained  two  Fathers,  one  of  our 
brothers  and  three  of  our  domestics  to  go  with  them  to 
begin  a  mission  in  those  parts,  he  set  out  for  their  country. 
On  the  way  up,  six  Huron  canoes,  in  one  of  which  Father 
Garreau  was,  paddled  a  short  distance  ahead  of  the  rest  of 
the  flotilla  and  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of  Mohawks,  who 
were  concealed  in  the  reeds  on  the  river  bank,  close  to  which 
the  canoes  had  to  pass,  and  who  discharged  a  volley  of 
musketry  on  the  unsuspecting  travellers.  The  best  warriors 
in  the  six  canoes  fell  dead,  others  were  wounded,  and  the 
rest  were  dragged  out  of  their  boats  to  a  captivity  worse 
than  death.  After  this  first  success  the  Mohawks  hurried 
back  to  the  intrenchment  which  they  had  thrown  up  in  the 
woods. 

Among  the  victims  in  that  first  attack  was  Father  Gar- 
reau. He  was  struck  by  a  musket  ball  which  shattered 
his  spine.  He  was  taken  from  the  canoe  and  flung  pitilessly 
on  the  ground  and  stripped  naked  except  for  a  miserable 
drawers  that?Jie  wore.  As  he  lay  there  the  first  word  he  ut- 
tered was:  'O  God!  receive  my  spirit.  My  God!  forgive 
them.'  He  remained  bathed  in  his  blood  for  four  hours,  but 
rejoicing  that  he  was  left  like  Christ  in  his  dereliction.  When 
the  savages  came  back  and  found  him  still  alive  they  lifted 
him  up  and  carried  him  inside  the  stockade.  It  was 
Wednesday,  August  30,  about  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
that  he  received  this  stroke  of  death,  I  should  rather  say 
his  increase  of  life,  for  from  that  out,  his  life  was  only  in 
God.  He  did  not  show  even  the  slightest  movement  of 
resentment  against  his  murderers.  He  was  all  charity  for 
them;  loved  them  in  God,  and  God  in  them;  offering  his 

396 


LEONARD   GARREAU. 

life  and  his  death  for  them,  adoring  and  blessing  God 
for  the  ways  which  had  led  up  to  the  culmination  of  his 
labors. 

"  We  could  not  have  known  this,  had  not  the  goodness 
of  God  given  us  back  Father  Garreau  a  little  while  before 
death  finally  came  to  claim  him.  For  as  the  victorious 
Iroquois  were  anxious  to  keep  the  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
French,  while  waging  a  cruel  war  against  our  allies,  they 
stopped  at  Montreal  on  the  way  back  and  left  the  Father 
there  on  the  Saturday  following,  namely  the  2d  of  September. 
It  was  a  miracle  that  he  was  not  dead.  During  all  the 
time  that  elapsed  since  he  was  struck  by  the  bullet  he  had 
not  eaten  a  thing,  and  as  not  a  drop  of  water  had  passed 
his  lips  he  was  tortured  by  a  burning  thirst. 

"  He  was  received  at  Montreal  as  an  apostle  and  a  martyr 
of  Jesus  Christ.  That  day  he  made  his  confession  three 
times  over,  with  sentiments  of  humility  and  love  worthy 
of  such  a  precious  death.  He  received  Holy  Viaticum 
and  Extreme  Unction,  and  answered  all  the  prayers.  He 
continued  to  make  acts  of  thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  honor 
and  the  favor  of  accepting  his  blood  and  his  life  for  the 
divine  glory,  and  abandoned  himself  completely  to  God's 
holy  will.  He  complained  that  his  death  was  too 
easy.  He  lovingly  invoked  the  Blessed  Virgin,  St. 
Joseph  and  his  Angel  Guardian.  Finally,  in  the  midst  of 
his  prayers,  he  was  seized  with  convulsions,  and  at  ten 
o'clock  at  night  he  gave  his  beautiful  soul  to  God  whitened 
by  his  blood,  and  leaving  all  those  who  stood  around  him 
filled  with  joy  and  hope  that  his  blood  would  produce  abun- 
dant fruits  for  the  glory  of  God.  We  spared  nothing  to 
make  his  funeral  rites  what  they  should  have  been. 

"  His  life  was  holy  and  his  death  still  more  so.  All  who 
knew  him  regard  him  as  one  of  the  great  servants  of  God. 
No  one  prayed  for  him,  but  all  invoked  him  as  a  saint. 
I  have  reason  to  know  it,  for  I  was  his  Superior  for  eight 
years.     I  was  above  him,  indeed,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 

397 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

but  in  reality  like  the  dust  beneath  his  feet.  I  can  affirm 
in  the  presence  of  God,  who  knows  the  depths  of  our  hearts, 
that  he  always  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  saint;  a  man  of  solid 
virtue,  unvarying  piety,  genuine  humility,  of  a  loving  and 
lovable  charity,  and  with  an  apostolic  zeal  that  merited 
his  holy  death.     May  I  die  the  death  of  that  just  man! 

"  What  makes  his  death  more  precious  is  that  he  knew 
the  danger  he  was  incurring.  We  had  experiences  of  the 
same  enemy,  and  we  apprehended  that  something  of  the  sort 
might  occur.  But  both  he  and  we  thought  that  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls  ought  to  lead  him  to 
make  the  attempt ;  for  if  the  hope  of  gaining  a  glorious 
victory  for  one's  king  will  send  a  soldier  headlong  against 
a  foe.  though  death  may  be  staring  him  in  the  face, 
should  not  a  man  do  as  much  for  God?  That  was  in  his 
mind,  when  forgetting  himself  and  taking  his  life  in  his 
hands,  he  went  forward  with  joy  and  love,  obedient  even 
unto  death. 

"  I  write  you  this  from  a  French  colony  which  we  call 
Three  Rivers,  where  your  brother,  that  great  servant  of 
God,  lived  for  the  last  two  years  of  his  life,  edifying  every- 
one by  the  example  of  his  virtues  and  the  power  of  his 
words,  which  were  inflamed  with  the  love  of  God  and  neigh- 
bor; a  love  which  went  almost  to  extremes,  for  he  con- 
sidered that  there  was  nothing  in  the  house  that  did  not 
belong  as  much  to  the  sick  and  the  poor  as  to  the  Fathers. 
He  often  took  the  bread  out  of  his  mouth  to  give  it  to  some- 
one in  want.  In  that  way  he  won  all  hearts.  I  took  his  place 
there,  without  inheriting  his  virtues,  but  nevertheless  I 
must  bless  God  for  having  been  his  successor.  He  loved  me 
while  he  was  here  on  earth ;  he  will  have  pity  on  me  now 
that  he  is  in  heaven.  He  was  separated  from  me  for  eight 
days  before  his  death.  On  Saturday,  the  2d  of  August, 
he  made  his  general  confession  to  me,  and  that  day  I 
thanked  God  for  having  such  friends  who  loved  Him  in 
spirit  and  truth,  and  who  loved  Him  alone.     The  last  word 

398 


LEONARD  GARREAU. 

that  was  said  to  him  was  that  he  was  going  to  his  death,  and 
he  exclaimed  '  O !  would  that  it  were  so ;  how  happy  would 
I  be!'  A  few  moments  before  he  was  shot  he  was  en- 
couraging the  Frenchmen  w^ho  were  with  him,  and  telling 
them  they  ought  to  be  ready  to  die;  that  the  one  whose 
heart  is  near  God  fears  neither  life  nor  death ;  and  indeed 
prefers  suffering  and  death  if  they  make  him  live  in  God. 

"  Excuse  me,  if  one  whom  you  do  not  know  writes  at 
such  length  in  his  first  letter  to  you,  but  I  am  writing  to 
a  brother,  and  of  a  brother  who  cannot  be  too  much  loved. 
He  loved  and  respected  you,  and  I  know  that  a  year  ago, 
when  he  was  near  death,  he  asked  me  to  write  to  you  to 
cell  you  that  he  would  think  of  you  in  heaven.  Since  then 
his  love  for  you  increased,  and  I  doubt  not  that  I  am  com- 
plying with  his  wishes  in  acquitting  myself  of  this  duty, 
and  in  asking  you  that  since  he  was  so  close  to  me  that 
I  may  find  a  place  in  your  heart.  You  will  lose  by  the 
change,  or  rather  you  will  gain,  for  instead  of  one  brother 
who  is  not  dead,  for  he  lives  in  heaven,  and  is  more 
powerful  than  ever,  you  will  have  another  who  will  be 
yours  with  all  his  heart. 

"  All  those  who  witnessed  his  virtue  in  early  youth  say 
that  he  was  endowed  with  a  strong  and  keen  intelligence,  a 
docility  that  knew  no  bounds.  When  after  his  successful 
course  of  humanities  he  was  received  into  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  the  greatest  hopes  were  founded  on  him,  because  of 
the  natural  gifts  with  which  he  was  endowed.  In  his 
novitiate  he  was  the  first  in  every  hard  and  humiliating 
trial  to  which  he  was  subjected;  and  he  manifested  a  posi- 
tive delight,  not  only  in  helping  the  poor,  but  in  over- 
coming the  repugnace  which  young  people  experience  when 
they  find  themselves  in  the  midst  of  infection,  and  the 
loathsome  odor  of  the  sick.  He  was  the  most  eager  to 
make  their  beds,  to  wash  away  their  filth,  and  to  console 
and  instruct  them.  All  the  other  novices  were  spurred  on 
by  his  example. 

399 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

"  After  the  novitiate  he  was  employed  in  teaching.  He 
was  very  successful  as  a  professor  of  philosophy,  and  for 
that  reason  he  was  sent  to  Rome  for  a  six  years  theological 
course.  In  the  large  number  of  students  gathered  there 
from  various  parts  of  the  world,  his  virtue  attracted  the 
attention  of  everyone.  It  was  when  he  was  nearing  the 
end  of  his  theology  that  a  letter  was  sent  to  the  Father 
General  from  the  Superior  of  the  Canada  missions  asking 
for  help.  Your  brother  accepted  the  call,  and  asked  so 
persistently  to  be  devoted  to  the  conversion  of  the  Indians, 
that  he  was  chosen  to  the  exclusion  of  others.  He  set  out 
for  America  as  soon  as  possible,  manifesting  the  greatest 
joy  at  the  realization  oi  his  hopes.  He  came,  and  died 
as  we  have  seen. 

"  What  can  be  said  of  his  death  except  that  it  was 
precious  in  the  eyes  of  God ;  that  his  memory  will  be  in 
benediction  in  future  ages;  and  that  the  record  of  his  life 
will  bring  the  blush  of  shame  to  the  cheeks  of  many  an 
ecclesiastic  who  is  living  idly  at  home,  unfortunately  bury- 
ing the  talents  which  nature  and  grace  may  have  given,  or 
whose  labor  results  in  nothing  but  vanity  and  affliction  of 
spirit." 

The  death  of  Father  Garreau  was  certainly  the  most 
notable  event  of  those  early  days  of  Montreal,  but  in  nearly 
all  the  histories  it  is  remarkable  how  little  attention  is  given 
to  it.  One  would  like  to  know,  for  instance,  if  Maison- 
neuve  was  there  at  the  time?  Did  Jeanne  Mance,  who 
had  founded  her  little  hospital  endeavor  to  alleviate  his 
suffering?  Was  the  gentle  Marguerite  Bourgeoys,  who 
had  come  out  to  begin  the  work  of  education  in  that  part 
of  Canada  present  at  his  entombment?  No  doubt  Father 
Druillettes  and  Brother  le  Boeme  and  the  three  domestics 
who  had  started  out  with  the  dead  missionary  were  then  at 
Montreal,  but  nothing  is  said  of  them;  though  it  is  probable 
that  when  they  found  themselves  alone  in  the  woods  by  the 
Ottawa,  they  did  not  wait  for  the  Iroquois  to  issue  from 

400 


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O 


LEONARD  GARREAU. 

their  fort  but  made  for  Montreal,  which  Druillettes  knew 
very  well,  for  he  had  been  in  charge  of  the  colony  from* 
1643  to  1646. 

Of  the  obsequies  we  know  nothing  except  what  is  con- 
tained in  Ragueneau's  letter,  viz. ;  "  that  they  were  made  as 
splendid  as  the  circumstances  would  permit."  We  have, 
however,  in  Viger's  "Petit  Registre  in  4°  de  la  Cure  de  Mon- 
treal," an  official  record  of  the  interment  by  Father  Pijart, 
which  runs  as  follows :  "  A.  D.  1656  on  the  2d  of  September 
at  11  o'clock  at  night,  Father  Leonard  Garreau,  Priest  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  fortified  by  all  the  sacraments,  gave 
up  his  soul  to  God.  He  was  struck  by  a  musket  ball  on 
August  30  by  the  Iroquois,  while  on  his  way  to  preach  the 
Gospel  in  the  upper  country.  He  was  a  man  who  was  ex- 
ceptionally endowed  with  the  gifts  of  God,  and  enriched 
with  every  virtue.  The  day  after  his  death  he  was  buried  by 
me,  Claude  Pijart,  of  the  same  Society  of  Jesus,  in  the  plot 
set  apart  for  the  priests." 

Where  was  this  plot  set  apart  for  the  priests?  It  was 
somewhere  in  the  square  where  the  splendid  monument  of 
Maisonneuve  now  stands.  For  we  read  in  a  little  book 
entitled  "  Les  Premieres  Cimitieres  Catholiques  de  Mon- 
treal," that  the  old  place  down  at  the  river  side,  near  the 
place  Royale,  was  altogether  abandoned  on  account  of  the 
inundations,  and  that  a  new  one  higher  up  had  been 
chosen  two  years  before  Father  Garreau's  death.  Where 
the  precious  remains  are  now  we  do  not  know,  for  the 
growth  of  the  city  made  another  change  necessary  in  course 
of  time,  and  the  bodies,  no  doubt,  were  all  transferred  to 
the  present  cemetery  of  the  Cote  des  Neiges. 

It  would  be  gratifying,  also,  to  be  able  to  identify  the 
exact  spot  on  which  the  battle  was  fought  in  which  Garreau 
was  wounded.  The  "  Relation  "  merely  states  that  "  the 
Iroquois  were  ambushed  on  the  bank  of  the  great  river 
where  the  Algonquins  (the  Ottawas  were  Algonquins)  had 
to  pass.     They  first  threw  up  a  redoubt  on  a  little  hill,  by 

401 


PIONEER  PRIESTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

cutting  down  some  trees.  The  sentinels  whom  they  had 
stationed  at  a  convenient  place  which  commanded  a  good 
view  of  the  great  river  warned  the  chief  that  the  flotilla 
was  approaching,  and  then  a  number  of  braves  who  were 
good  shots  were  concealed  in  the  weeds  and  tall  grass  on 
a  point  which  the  canoes  had  to  graze  in  passing  {que  nos 
gens  venoicnt  f riser).'' 

This  is  very  vague  in  spite  of  its  details.  The  great  river 
here  spoken  of  included  all  the  branches  of  the  Ottawa, 
which  w^as  considered  at  that  time  to  be  the  same  as  the 
St.  Lawrence.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  where 
the  Ottawa  approaches  the  island  of  Montreal,  it  widens 
out  into  what  is  called  the  Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains, 
and  divides  into  three  streams ;  one  going  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence, another  called  Mille  Isles,  which  runs  north  of  the 
Isle  Jesus,  and  a  third  called  the  Riviere  des  Prairies. 
The  two  latter  enter  the  St.  Lawrence  at  the  eastern  end 
of  Montreal  Island.  It  seems  to  be  agreed  that  the  travel- 
lers took  the  Riviere  des  Prairies,  which  was  the  usual 
route  up  the  Ottawa.  But  at  what  point  in  the  river  the 
battle  occurred  we  are  not  told.  Charlevoix,  who  wrote 
a  hundred  years  later,  said  it  was  on  the  shores  of  the  Lake 
of  the  two  Mountains.  But  as  the  river  is  so  very  wide 
there,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  any  place  where  the  canoes 
would  be  compelled  to  pass  so  close  to  the  bank  that  the 
Iroquois  in  the  reeds  and  tall  grass  were  able  immediately 
after  the  shooting  to  leap  upon  their  victims  and  drag 
them  ashore. 

In  direct  contradiction  to  Charlevoix,  with  whose  state- 
ment he  was  of  course  familiar,  Father  Martin  says  ex- 
plicitly that  "  the  Iroquois  had  concealed  themselves  on  the 
zrery  island  of  Montreal,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  which 
bathes  it  on  the  northeast  (the  Riviere  des  Prairies  or  Back 
River),  and  at  a  place  where  the  canoes  had  to  pass  {ou 
Us  dezment  ^passer).  This  place  could  not  be  better  suited 
for  their  purpose,   for  in  order  to  ascend  the  current  in 

402 


LEONARD   GARREAU. 

that  tiarrozv  and  rapid  place  they  had  to  hug  the  shore 
and  work  with  all  the  strength  of  their  paddles,"  If  this 
is  correct,  though  Father  Martin  is  adding  something  to 
the  vague  description  of  the  "  Relation  "  without  giving  us 
his  authority,  it  might  be  easy  to  find  the  spot.  In 
scrutinizing  the  map  of  the  Hunt  Club  of  Montreal,  we 
find  the  narrowest  part  of  the  river  with  a  projecting  point 
to  be  just  above  where  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  crosses 
the  stream.  Is  that  the  place?  It  would  be  rash  to  ven- 
ture an  assertion.  Only  topographical  experts  can  tell  us. 
In  conclusion  it  is  worth  while  recording  the  fact  that 
besides  being  included  in  the  "  Histoire  des  Saints  de  Lim- 
oges," which  was  published  in  1673  by  Jean  Collins,  Father 
Garreau  is  honored  not  only  by  an  unusually  laudatory- 
account  of  his  life  and  death  in  the  Roman  Archives,  and 
in  Guilhermy's  "  Menology,"  but  though  anticipation  of 
the  decision  of  the  Holy  See  is  not  allowed,  he  is  put  down 
in  "Les  Petits  Bollandists  "  (7th  ed..  Tome  10,  p.  408,  on 
the  2d  of  December,  the  day  of  his  death)  as  "le  venerable 
Pere  Garreau  de  la  Conipagnie  de  Jesus  missionaire  dans  le 
Canada."  In  spite  of  all  this,  the  great  man  is  almost  un- 
known at  the  present  time. 


403 


EPILOGUE. 

With  the  destruction  of  Father  Garreau's  mission  among 
the  Petuns,  the  work  of  the  Jesuits  around  Lake  Huron 
virtually  came  to  an  end.  Parkman  and  others  regard  it 
as  a  failure,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Hurons 
would  have  been  utterly  annihilated  if  the  priests  had  never 
approached  them.  Indeed  their  arrival  retarded  the  dis- 
aster, and  besides  their  presence  was  tolerated  solely  in 
the  hope  of  averting  the  blow.  It  was  only  after  the  Hurons 
were  overwhelmingly  defeated  by  the  Iroquois  that  de 
Brebeuf  and  his  companions  were  admitted  into  their  ter- 
ritory. They  were  like  condemned  criminals  who  angrily 
reject  the  ministrations  of  religion,  but  who  finally  yield 
in  the  hope  of  saving  their  necks  from  the  gallows.  They 
were  of  the  same  blood  as  the  Iroquois,  and  were  almost 
as  terrible  a  race  to  deal  with.  They  were  degraded,  ig- 
norant, gross,  immoral,  obscene  in  their  words  and  acts, 
depraved,  superstitious,  worshippers  of  the  devil,  liars,  gam- 
blers, traitors,  apostates,  murderers,  fiendishly  cruel  in  tor- 
turing their  enemies,  and  not  unfrequently  cannibals. 
They  had  no  idea  of  restraint  in  their  family  relations,  or 
of  submmission  to  the  tribal  authorities,  and  they  regarded 
with  loathing  and  contempt  the  teachings  of  Christianity. 

To  have  attempted  to  convert  such  a  people  during  the 
brief  period  of  ten  years,  every  moment  of  which  was 
marked  by  wars,  massacres,  starvation,  disease  and  pes- 
tilence, and  nevertheless  to  have  established  flourishing  mis- 
sions in  every  Huron  town,  to  have  made  many  thousands 
of  Christians,  both  young  and  old,  nearly  all  of  whom 
were  perhaps  too  severely  tried  before  being  admitted  to 
baptism,  to  have  developed  very  many  splendid  examples 
of  exalted  sanctity,  and  finally,  to  have  closed  their  books 
of  account  with  the  Lord  not  only  by  years  of  suffering 

404 


EPILOGUE. 

almost  unparalleled  in  Christian  annals,  but  to  have  sealed 
them  with  the  blood  of  seven  of  their  noblest  men  is  the 
glorious  record  of  the  Huron  missionaries. 

In  1650  the  tribe  vanished  from  the  earth  as  a  distinct 
nation.  Gathered  at  first,  as  a  forlorn  hope,  on  Christian 
or  St.  Joseph's  Island,  they  were  pursued  and  massacred 
by  their  foes  even  there.  Pestilence  came  with  its  ravages, 
and  starvation  added  its  horrors  to  such  a  terrible  degree 
that  the  dead  were  dug  up  and  eaten.  Some  of  the  sur- 
vivors took  refuge  among  the  Petuns,  Neutrals  and 
Eries,  only  to  be  murdered  in  the  general  destruction  of 
those  tribes  by  the  all-conquering  Iroquois.  The  Andastes, 
of  Pennsylvania  received  some,  and  the  Illinois  others. 
There  were  groups  of  them  at  Mackinac,  and  Menard's 
companions  found  a  starving  village  of  them  in  the  swamps 
of  Wisconsin.  Three  hundred  families,  mostly  Christian, 
were  led  by  Ragueneau  to  Quebec,  and  the  remnants  still 
live  in  La  Jeune  Lorette  on  the  River  St.  Charles ;  but  there 
is  not  a  full-blooded  Huron  among  them  now.  Thus  perished 
the  once  flourishing  nation  to  whom  God  gave  such  won- 
derful saints  to  lead  them  to  heaven  at  the  last  moment  of 
their  existence. 


405 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Aataentsic,      Huron      legend 

concerning    127 

Acadia,  establishment  of . . .  3  sqq 
Achiendase,        J.        Lalemant 

called      298 

Adam,     Father    333 

Adams,   Nicholas    44 

Ahitsasteari,  Huron  chief.  . . .  239 
Ailleboust,  Governor  of  Mon- 
treal       271 

Albanel,  Charles   272 

Algonquins,    Brebeuf    among.     79 

Daniel  among   201 

All   Saints,  mission    141 

Allumettes,    Isle   des 82 

Amiot,  Jean    (Antaiok) 286 

Andastes,  Etienne  Brule 

among     99 

Andewarahan,   Armand.     See 

Armand   the   Huron. 

Andros,   Governor    31 

Annapolis    (N.    S.) 4 

Anne,   St.,  Legend 81 

"  Anouenen,"     Father    Daniel 

called    232 

Antaiok.     See  Amiot,  Jean. 

Anthony,   St.,    River 30 

"  Anti-Coton,"    pamphlet 77 

Aqnaviva,  Masse's  Letter  to.     53 

Argall,   Samuel    33 

Argenson,  Governor  of   New 

France      317 

Armand   the  Huron 216 

Armouchiquois  Indians  . .  19,  22 
Arquien,  Governor  of  Calais,  45 
Arundels,    kinship    with    Bre- 

beufs     66 

Assemblies,  Indian  132  sq 

Attigouantan  (Lake  Huron).  ii 
Aubigny,  Countess  d',  founds 

Rouen   novitiate    69 

Aubrey,  Pontgrave's  chaplain  320 
Avaugour,  Governor  of  New 

France      320 

Avvenrehrennons     148 

Bailloquet,    Pierre    272 

Bear    Nation    (Huron) 131 

407 


PAGE 

Beard,   Sotiriquois  dislike  of.       5 

Beausoleil,  island    85 

Bells,   Indian   reverence   for.  .  237 
Berger  Le,  Indian  convert...  229 

Betsabes     25 

BIARD,  PETER  3  sqq 

Biencourt  the  younger 12 

Biencourt,  Jean  de.     See  Pot- 

rincourt. 
Boileau,     estimate     of     "  La 

Pharsale "     66 

Bonaquat  and  Mt.  Desert....     31 

Bonin,  Father  180,  226 

Bourbon,   Cardinal   de,  Jesuit 

foundation     273 

BREBEUF,    JOHN  DE.  .  65  sqq 

Bressani,    Father    225 

Bretesche     60 

Breton,  Cape.     See  Cape  Bre- 
ton. 
Brotherton,    Thomas    Planta- 

genet   de    67 

Brulard   de  Sillery.     See   Sil- 
lery. 

Brule,  Etienne 90,  98  sq.,  138 

Buret,  Jesuit  lay-brother 

76,  91,  252 
Burial,   among  Souriquois  ...       9 

Among   Hurons    135 

Among  Neutrals  141 

Buteux,    Jacques   69,  272 

Cadieux,    tradition  concerning     81 

Cadillac,  de  la  Mothe 31 

Caen,  Emery  de   75 

Caen,  Guillaume  de  75 

Cahiague,    mission    232 

Cain  and  Abel,  Huron  version  127 

Calumet,    legend   81 

Cannibalism,  none  among  Sou- 
riquois         10 

Among   Hurons    255 

Cape  Breton   197 

Caragouha,  mission   85  sq 

Castine,  Baron  de  31 

Cauchon,  Pierre  chapel  at  Li- 

sieux     71 

Cauvet,  Brother    333 


INDEX. 


p 
Cazot,    Father   

Cent  Associes,  Company  of 
the   88,  257, 

CHABANEL,  NOEL  ...  367 

Champlain  4,  14,  45,  73. 

89,  258,  266 

Chappuis,   Father,    imprisoned 

Charton,  Jesuit  lay-brother  .  . 

Chastelain,  Fr 204, 

Chatel,  Jean   

Chats,  Chute  des.  See  Chute 
des  Chats. 

Chaudiere,  river   

Legend     

Chandron,    burial   

Chaumonot     227, 

Chauveau     

Chiboctos,   river    

Chiwatenwa,  Joseph,  Indian 
convert     

Chouart,  donne   

Chute  des  Chats  

Clermont,  Jesuit  college.  .248, 

Closse.    Lambert  

Columba,  St.,  church,  Sillery. 

Columba,  St.,  cathedral,  Pem- 
broke     

■'  Compagnie    des    Habitants  " 

Conde,  Prince  de   

Conde-sur-Vire     

Conti,  Prince  de  

Cosmogonv,  Huron    

Coton,  Pie'rre   11,  52, 

Couillard,  Marguerite   

Courcelles,  Governor  of  New 
France    

Couture,   donne   

D'Aillon,  Joseph  de  la  Roche, 
Recollect    

Dale,  Governor  of  Virginia  37, 

Daniel,  Captain   

DANIEL,    ANTHONY..  197 

Daran,  Adrien   

Dauversiere,  Jerome   

Davost,  Ambroise   199, 

Death,  Huron  attitude  to- 
wards      134 

Deerfield  massacre  

Delaware,  Lord,  Argall's  re- 
lations with    

Derouen,  Joseph  

Descartes,  on  College  of  La 
Fleche    


.'KGE  PAGE 

304      Desert,    Mount.     See    Mount 
Desert 

304  Devil-worship,  among  Hurons  296 
sqq      Diondadies,  Petuns  called   . . .  352 

D'Olbeau,    Recollect    mission- 
sqq  ary    74,  252 

72  Donnes,  system  of   284 

253       Dreams,  Indian  belief  in.   129,  235 

329      Druillettes,    Gabriel   272 

249      Duperon,   Joseph-Imbert    ....  272 

Duplessis   Bouchard    91,  204 

Dupont,  son  of  Pontgrave.   17,  58 
49      Earthquake,  Quebec,  1663....  321 

80  Eating-festival,     among     Hu- 

138  rons     130 

235      Echkanich   (Little  Horn),  In- 
268  dian  convert   336 

25  Echon,  Brebeuf  called  .  .   141,  154 

Ekarreniondi,  mission   361 

354       Emmentic,  Island  of   25 

285      Etchemin  Indians  5 

81  Eteminquois    7 

280      Etharita,  mission    361 

307  Etiontatehronnons,     Petuns 

49  called     352 

Eu,     France,     church    of    St. 

83  Lawrence     262 

305  Eudemare,  Georges  d' 272 

73  Excommuniquois     5 

68      Exorcism,  among  Souriquois.       8 

274       Felicite,  wife  of  Armand  the 

127  Huron     228 

249      Fleche,  La.    See  La  Fleche. 

161       Flessche,  Joshua   11 

Flesse,  Joshua.    See  Flessche. 

323       Flory,  Captain   34 

285       Gael,   Raulf  de    67 

Gambling,  among  Hurons  . .  .   293 

76      Ganentaa,  Lake  (Onondaga) .  308 

40      GARNIER,  CHARLES..  327  sqq 

198      GARREAU,   LEONARD.  377  sqq 

sqq      Gast.  Pierre  du  4 

272      Gentil,    Franqoise  de  379 

268      Godefroy,  Thomas   108 

272      Gonterey,  Father    279 

Goupil,   Rene    285 

sqq      "  Grace  of  God,  The  " 14 

237       Great  Cibou,  fort   197 

Gregoire    claim   31 

33       Greslon,    Father    226 

84  Grosellier,     Sieur     de.       See 
Chouart. 

248      Guercheville,  Marquise  de.   14,  27 

408 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Guerin,  donne   285 

Hamel,  Guillaume  de 66 

Haregondi,    Lake   83 

Hawkstone   (Cahiague)    232 

Henri  de  Bourbon   73 

Henrietta   Maria,   secures   re- 
lease of  Lalemant  257 

Henry  IV,  grant  to  de  Monts.       4 

Hollow  (Creux)    River 83 

Hotel-Dieu,  first  Canadian...     50 
Howard,  John,  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk         67 

Hudson,    river  30 

Hundred  Associates.  See  Cent 
Associes. 

Huron,    Lake    ii.  83 

Huronia     ii 

Hurons   i,  80,  125  sqq, 

254  sq.,  289  sqq 

Ihonitiria     85  sq.,  201 

Imbert,  Simon  28 

Immortality,  Huron  belief  in.   128 

Souriquois  belief  in   10 

lousheka,   Huron  legend  con- 
cerning        127 

Isle  aux  Monts  Deserts.     See 

Mount  Desert. 
Jamay,    Recollect   missionary.  252 
Jogues,  Isaac.  .59,  92,  158,  272,  273 
"  Journal  des  Jesuites  "  299,  303  sq 
Julius   II,  approval  of  Recol- 
lects        251 

Kadesquit    30 

Kandoucho,    mission   141 

Kerkt.     See  Kirke. 
Khionontaterronnons,     Petuns 

called 352 

Khiota,  mission   149 

Kirke,  David 88,  257 

Kirke,    Louis   89 

Kirke,  Thomas   89 

La  Boulaye   45 

La  Fleche,  Jesuit  college 

59,  247,  308  sqq 

Lairet,  river   77 

Lalande,    donne  285 

PAGE 

LALEMANT,  CHARLES 

3,  59,  92,  198,  247  sqq 
LALEMANT,  GABRIEL  175  sqq 
LALEMANT,    JEROME  279  sqq 

Lalemant,   Louis 247 

La  Saussaye  29 


PAGE 

Lauson,  Governor  de  . . .  263,  268 

Laval  de  Montigny   310 

Lawrence,    St.,   church   of,   at 

Eu 262 

Lawrence,  St.,  river 49 

Le   Bailiff    90 

Le  Borgne,  Indian  chief.  .  82,  107 
Le    Caron,  Recollect.  ...   ii,  74,  252 

Le  Jeune,  Paul 59,  91,  204 

265,  272 

Le  Moyne,    Simon 272,  303 

Lescarbot 3,  28,     45 

Levis,  de.     See  Ventadour. 

Levis,  Pointe   49 

Liquor  traffic  controversy  319  sqq 
Lisieux,  Cauchon's  chapel  at.  71 
"  Little  Village  of  the  Loaded 

Canoe,"  Ihonitiria  called...   100 
Louis     XIII,     supposed     plot 

against    72 

Louis  de  Saincte  Foy 202 

Louis  Membertou   57 

Maignelais,  Marquise  de 279 

Maisonneuve    269  sq 

Malherbe,  Brother   180 

Malot,    Brother  89 

Mance,   Jeanne    270 

Manitougatche 95 

Marguerie,  Frangois  ....  108,  286 
Marriage,  among  Souriquois.       7 

Marsolet,  Nicholas  90 

Marv.  Servants  of,  Indian  so- 
dality   227 

Massaeus.     See  Masse. 

MASSE,  ENEMOND..  ll,49sqq 

Masso,     Imbertus     de.       See 

Masse. 

Mattawa,    river  83 

Maunoir,    Jules   329 

Membertou    9,  12,     18 

Menard    50,     59 

Mer  Douce,  La,  Lake  Huron 

called    83 

Merveille,  Captain  19  sq 

Meteourmite    22  sqq 

Mesy,    de.    Governor   of    New 

France    320 

Michel    90 

Micmacs     5 

Mohawks,  conference  with  . .  298 

Montagnais  5,  7,  207 

Montmagny   211,  302  306 

Montmorency,  Duke  de 75 


409 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Montreal,  purchase  of . . . .  268  sqq 
Monts,    Sieur   de.      See    Gast, 

Pierre  du. 
Mourning,  among   Souriquois       9 
"Mountains  of  St.  John"....   351 

Mount  Desert    30 

Nadoueks,  Hurons  called  ....        i 
Nasse,     La.       See     Manitou- 
gatche. 

Neutrals      139  sqq 

Nevers,  Jesuit  College  at....   248 

New    France 3 

Nez    Perces    108 

Nicolet,  John    160  sqq 

Nippissing,   Lake    83 

Nippissings,      Recollect     mis- 
sions among  252 

Nippisirien,   Lake    85 

Noirclair,  Jesuit  lay-brother..  226 

Norfolk,  first  Duke  of 67 

Norumbega      4,     25 

Notre  Dame  de  Recouvrance.  264 
Notre  Dame  des  Anges,  Jes- 
uit  foundation    60,     78 

Notre  Dame  des  Anges,  Re- 
collect   foundation    252 

NOUE,  ANNE  DE 

59,  91,  187  sqq 
Noyrot,    Father.  .  60,  89,  256,  259 

Onondagas    307 

"  Ononhara,"  Indian  supersti- 
tion       130 

Orleans,  Lac  d'.  Lake  Huron 

called    83 

Ossossane,  mission   85,    99 

Otouacha,  mission    86 

Ottiwandaronk     (Neutrals)..   140 

Ouenrohronnons      347 

"  Ouracha,"  Gamier  called...   346 

Pacificus,    Brother  252 

Pain    benit    301 

Passapec    58 

Pembroke,    site    83 

Pemetig      30 

Petavius      248,  273 

Peter,  Huron  convert   ...   113  sqq 

Peter,  Iroquois  convert   121 

Petuns    87,  351  sqq 

"  Pharsale,   La  "    66 

Piat,    Recollect    75 

Pierre  Blanche    17 

Pijart      216 

Platrier,    Captain    27 


PAGE 

Pocahontas     33 

Pointe     au     Massacre.       See 

Victory,  Cape. 
Polygamy,  among  Souriquois.       7 

Among    Hurons    255 

Poncet   de  la  Riviere 272 

Port   Royal    4,     38 

Pothier,    Father    84 

Potrincourt    5  sqq 

Poutrincourt.        See      Potrin- 
court. 

Prospec,    identity    58 

Quantoghies,    Hurons  called.        i 

Quebec        182,  252,  265,  274 

Quen,  Fr.  de   315 

Quentir,  Fr 29 

Quer.     See  Kirke. 

Queylus,  Abbe  de    313  sqq 

Ragueneau,   Frangois   ....  59,  257 

Ragueneau,    Paul    257 

Raye,    Pierre   90 

Recollects    74,   251  sqq 

Regnault    _ 181 

Repentigny,    Jean  Baptiste...   161 

Richard,  Andre  272 

Richelieu      88 

Rideau   Falls    80 

Rondaxes     i 

Rouen     313,  68  sq 

Sagamite     104 

Sagamo    6 

Sagard,  Brother    75 

Sambro,      58 

Samousat,  conversion   93 

Saonaretsi,    Ignatius    167 

Satouuta      205 

Sault  au  Recollect   78 

Saussaye.     See  La   Saussaye. 

Sezamore     58 

Sillery,  mission   49 

Sillery,  Noel  Brulard  de 50 

Simcoe,    Lake    219 

Sincembre     58 

Sorcery,    among  Souriquois..       7 

Souriquois      5  sqq 

St.  Alexis,  mission  149 

Ste.  Croix   4,  27,     38 

St.     Francis    149 

St.    Germain-en-Laye    91 

St.    Ignatius,    mission  168  sqq,  175 

St.  John,  mission    361 

St.  John  the  Baptist,  mission.   232 
St.  Joseph,  mission   149 


410 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

St.  Jure,  Father   270 

St.  Madeleine,  mission  179 

St.   Mary's,  mission 139,  175 

St.  Matthias  361 

St.   Michael's,   mission    149 

St.  Peter,  Lake  210 

St.    Sauveur  30 

St.  William,  mission   144 

Stewart  of  Ochiltree    197 

Sun,  worship  of    10 

Syracuse     308 

Tadoussac,   Recollect   mission  252 

Talon,    Intendant    253 

Tarantouan,    Indian    chief.  213  sq 

Teandeonihata   100 

Teondeonata    86 

Teatonguiaton      144 

Teiko,   Indian   seminarian....  208 

Tenaustaye     121,  232 

Teondechoren,     Indian     con- 
vert      146  sqq 

Tewatiron,  Joseph..  206,  209,  212 
Thet,   Gilbert   du,  Jesuit  lay- 
brother     28  sq,    34 


PAGE 

Three  Rivers  209,  220,  252 

Thunder,     in     Indian     myth- 
ology          87 

Tionontateheronnons,     Petuns 

called      352 

Toachim     86 

Toanche     86,     98 

Tobacco 7,     80 

Tobacco  Indians.    See  Petuns. 
Totiri,    Etienne,    Indian    con- 
vert        237 

Tourmente,  Cape   49 

Turnel     38  sq 

Ventadour,   x3uke   de    60 

Victory,    Cape   78 

Viel,  Father   78 

Vieuxpont,    Father   198,  289 

Vimont,  Bartholomew 

59,  152,   198,  299 
Voltaire,     estimate     of     "  La 

Pharsale"      66 

Warfare,   Souriquois  methods      6 
Wendats.     See   Hurons. 
Wyandots.     See  Hurons. 


411 


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